


souls entwined by such cold, hollow sound

by ddullahan



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Elsa-centric (Disney), F/F, F/M, Frozen 2 (2019) Spoilers, Lesbian Elsa (Disney), Movie: Frozen 2 (2019), Slow Burn, Songfic, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Worldbuilding, does that count as a songfic??, i made new lyrics and used lyrics from the movie, kinda??, maybe lol, pairings might be subject to change, welp someone will let me know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 16:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21915622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddullahan/pseuds/ddullahan
Summary: Sleep hasn't been easy for Elsa, especially in the past few months. With her grandfather's heavy hand controlling her future, and a strange voice howling songs in her dreams - it's a miracle she can even get out of bed.But when the voice in her dreams becomes more than just hollow sound, Elsa's entire world twists on its axis - leaving her to cling to her loved ones for dear life, or risk losing everything she's come to recognize as home.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa & Honeymaren (Disney), Elsa (Disney)/Original Female Character(s), Elsa/Honeymaren (Disney)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 74





	1. just a ringing in my ear

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who has two thumbs and is back on their bullshit??
> 
> FFFF I know I shouldn't start a new thing when I have so much shit to do, but I literally can't stop listening to the soundtrack of Frozen 2 and this idea has sunk its hooks into me and refused to release lol
> 
> To those of you who are new to my writing, welcome!! I appreciate y'all taking a chance on this fic, cause I know OCs are hit or miss on AO3 - the general consensus being 'miss' lol
> 
> I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it! Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!!

* * *

Elsa couldn’t breathe. 

The darkness was so thick she choked on it. Lungs straining, limbs flailing in their death throes. Her heart refused to beat, leaving a hollow ache where something was supposed to pulse. Like the phantom pull of tides after a long day in the ocean, the cold seemed to creep over her bones in slow, inevitable waves; piercing down to the marrow.

A mournful howl rose up from every direction and bellowed around her stiff body, the haunting song echoing off the walls of her skull and pulling, _ pulling - _

** _A-AH AA AAH -_ **

“Aah!” Elsa gasped, snapping up in her bed as if electrocuted. 

Air heaved in and out of her lungs so violently she felt like she was going to be sick, her neck and t-shirt soaked through in frosty sweat. Her heart lodged itself into her throat, and her stomach rolled unpleasantly as a warning.

She threw off the covers, a dull thud sounding over the floor as she quickly slammed the bathroom door open in a burst of blue ice. She barely made it to the toilet before her stomach turned upside down, emptying its contents. Her hands gripped the sides of the porcelain, ice spidering along the surface from her fingertips.

Elsa coughed, spitting into the bowl and fumbling for the lever to flush. Her entire body trembled like a taut rubber band, stomach clenching uncomfortably.

"...I knew take out was a bad idea.” She mumbled, dropping her forehead to the edge of the toilet.

After a moment to recoup she managed to scoop herself off the floor with shaking knees. Elsa brushed her teeth twice on autopilot before methodically undressing and folding her damp clothes to set aside. The weak water pressure didn’t do much to relax the tension in her shoulders, but at least it was something.

When she emerged, she felt just a little more human and a little less scared, platinum blonde hair wrapped up in a towel. She took a moment to breathe, clutching the towel around her body and looking around the room.

Her dorm was small, much to her sister’s infinite delight (_ “Elsa it’s so _ cute _ ! You could make a blanket nest for the whole room!” _), with a single tidy bookshelf and desk sharing the wall to her bathroom. Her blue patterned bed took up most of the room, along with the small end table that held the tiny biome for her pet salamander, Bruni. Her sheets were slumped to the floor, and there were icy blue spots coating the carpet where she’d made her mad dash to the bathroom. Nothing else seemed out of place.

Yet still, she felt like something was off. Like she’d forgotten something.

_ Some-things never change, like the feel of your hand in mi-ine! _

Elsa jumped so suddenly her bare feet froze to the floor, the loud ringtone muffled as her phone buzzed under the pile of covers. She yanked her feet out with a squeak, rushing to dig it out before the chirpy jingle ended.

"H-hello?" She breathed, quickly catching the towel on her head as it tipped over dangerously.

_ "There you are! I was worried you'd never wake up!" _

"What time is it?" Elsa asked, pulling back to look at her phone. Her eyes widened.

_ "Close enough to noon where we have to have brunch instead of breakfast. Which - which is fine by the way! You deserve some sleep - but like, also the line will be super long if we don't go to Oaken's soon." _Anna chirped, a smile evident in her voice.

Elsa jumped to her feet and quickly shook her wet hair free, pinching the phone between her shoulder and cheek as she spun her wrist through the air. "Oh shoot, I'm so sorry Anna!" 

_ "Like I said, it's fine! I know you haven't gotten much sleep recently. I'd rather you be late than sleep deprived and all." _

Snowflakes wove together over her skin until she was standing in a pair of pale blue leggings, dark ankle-high boots, a loose white t-shirt tied above her navel, and a flowing dark blue sweater that reached down to her calves.

"I'm heading out the door now," She said, hastily braiding her hair to one side as she did just that, locking the door behind her. "Are you bringing Olaf again?"

_ "Yep! Kristoff is giving us a ride so we'll meet you there. I hope you're ready, apparently Olaf's gotten into that weird middle school phase of questioning his worth and existence." _

"Oh, that's a phase?" Elsa said absently.

She smiled at the pause, waiting for Anna to see the other shoe. The journey down three flights of stairs was filled with Anna's crackling, affronted gasp and Elsa's quiet laughter. She carded her fingers through the damp waves of her bangs, letting a little bit of frost style them. Quickly speeding through the lobby with her eyes down, Elsa pushed out onto the bustling streets of Bergen. Anna chatted away in her ear, talking about everything from the pretty purple flowers she found in a snowbank to Kristoff's latest job as a bouncer in town.

Elsa listened calmly, finally able to correct her posture as she wove through the throng of people on the walkway. The sky was clear above, Norway's autumn chill sweeping gold leaves through the streets and over her head. Cars rushed by like they had somewhere to be, passing hung over students from the local university milling down the sidewalk.

Elsa could feel her sweater flowing behind her like a cape, parting the crowds for her as a boat cuts through the sea, drawing eyes like magpies to coins - though no one on the street dared to make eye contact with her. 

Thoughts adrift through her mind as Anna rambled on and on, Elsa found herself thinking of her dream. The cold, damp dark that sunk into her bones. She'd never been one to be bothered by the cold. But that… her knuckles paled against the stiff case of her phone. 

If that was what cold normally felt like, she'd gladly do without it.

_ "-lsa? Hellooooo earth to sister! Did you fall asleep while walking? Oh, that reminds me of this great story! This one time Kristoff was walking home with a fever and fell asleep in mid-step! He was like seven I think - and apparently Sven had to knock him into a tree to wake him up. That’s where he got that cute little scar in his eyebrow - oh hey I see you!" _

Elsa snapped out of her thoughts, turning a corner at the end of a street. Anna jumped, waving at her with a grin so bright it rivaled the sun. Warmth spread through Elsa’s chest, melting her posture and prompting a returning smile to curl across her face. Anna’s hand was a blur, accidentally smacking a man in the face as she squealed and ran through the crowd. Elsa hurried her own pace in turn, weaving through people along the sidewalk, laughing as Anna barreled into her full force. 

“Oof, hi Anna,” She laughed, swaying in place with her clingy sister. 

“It’s been a week, I’m allowed to make a scene!” Anna retorted, nuzzling into Elsa’s braid.

“Oh my, an entire week.” Elsa drawled, rubbing her palm between Anna’s shoulder blades. “Whatever will you do when I go with my class to the fjord? I won’t have cell service you know.”

Anna's grip tightened, a huff brushing past Elsa's ear. "Don't remind me. No contact for an entire day is worse than not seeing you for a week. Remind me again why a future diplomat needs to take an archaeology class?"

Elsa's smile dimmed, gently untangling herself from Anna's grasp and fixing her sister's braid affectionately. "Because it requires a cultural history credit, and I wanted to take something that wouldn't have me snoring. Honestly Anna, you'll be fine. You have Kristoff to keep you company."

Anna grinned, barely able to keep still. She bounced lightly on her toes, seafoam green eyes rolling to the heavens. "Yeeaah, but what if I find a new combination for popcorn toppings?"

"If it's chocolate, write them down for us to try when I get back." Elsa chided, adding a small layer of frost to the copper strands to keep her adjustments in place. "We'll have a movie night with everyone."

"Okay okay," Anna sighed, catching Elsa's hand in hers and turning on her heel. "_ I guess _ I can make do."

Her smile returned in full force, her heart so light and warm she felt like a cloud. She followed Anna down the street to Oaken's Café, her dream pushed to the back of her mind by her sister's joyful presence. Kristoff stood by the door with a small boy around twelve hanging off his burly arm, the boy’s head thrown back in raucous laughter. 

Anna’s entire person melted into Elsa’s side at the sight, whining, “Why are men so cute when they’re nice to children??”

“I couldn't tell you.” Elsa said with an amused hum, gently nudging Anna back to her feet. 

"Oh, fair. Fair.” Anna snorted, swinging their hands together. 

Elsa couldn’t help the happy little sigh that escaped her.

“What's got you in a good mood?" Anna asked with a grin.

Elsa shrugged mysteriously. "Nothing really." She tilted her head to Anna’s shoulder, closing her eyes and breathing in the slight tang of seasalt in the air and Anna’s gentle perfume. She smiled. "Everything is just perfect."

..._ a-ah aa ahh… _

The smile dropped from her face, arctic gaze swiveling to the sky. The world around her seemed to buzz in her ears, surprised murmurs erupting all around her. Distantly, she thought she heard Anna gasp. And why wouldn’t she? The light refracting across the sky in a rainbow of cold colors were a sight to behold on any normal day - but it was the shape of the aurora that had her palms sweating and freezing all at once. 

High in the clear sky, gleaming in hues of lavender, pale blue, and lichen green, was a four pointed star. 

Elsa’s breath caught in her throat, her stomach sinking. An overwhelming sense of deja vu flooded her with her earlier nausea - she had to catch herself on Anna’s forearm. She had no idea what it was, or what it meant to her. It was only instinct that told her of its familiarity.

Then Elsa blinked, and suddenly the aurora was normal. Ribbons stretching across the blue like rivers of soft light, extending beyond the modern buildings, until it melted into the eye of the horizon and the sea.

“Well, that's weird. I’ve never seen an aurora in the day.” Anna said with awe, looking to her sister. Her elation quickly disappeared, replaced by concern. “Elsa? Are you okay?”

Elsa gulped, trying not to show how shaken she was. “I uh, yeah I’m fine. Did you...did you see that star in the sky?”

“Star?” Anna frowned, glancing up at the fluctuating ribbons. “What star?”

Her pale fingers curled a bit tighter over Anna’s arm. She forced herself to relax. She corrected her posture, frowning up at the light. 

“...Never mind. Must have been my imagination.”


	2. everyone i've ever loved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not to like, jinx myself or whatever, but I'm really impressed with how far i've gotten with writing this story without posting o.o 
> 
> Now, how long that might last has yet to be seen. So i'll just...keep going until I can't lol
> 
> Anyway, I wanna thank everyone who's taken a second to check out my first chapter (and/or has left a kudos) thank you for visiting and givin' this a chance!!!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated! On with the chapter!

* * *

"And did you know that turtles can breathe through their butts? What do they do if they need to fart??"

Elsa shook her head, chin in her palm as she listened to the incredulous ramblings of an enthusiastic twelve year old. A few older folks seated nearby gave them a stink-eye, which Elsa promptly ignored as she sipped on her iced coffee. 

"Wouldn't that just be a burp for them?" Anna asked around a mouthful of croissant.

Kristoff choked on his soup, eyes watering as he pounded his chest and tried not to laugh. The little boy beside him grinned wide, showing two large buck teeth. His black hair was combed to one side, dressed in just a loose fleece jacket and jeans. He pointed at Anna, nodding with satisfaction. "See, Anna gets me."

"Better her than us, huh Elsa?" Krostoff coughed, squinting through watery eyes. 

Elsa smiled thinly, reaching over and ruffling Olaf's hair until it stuck up like he'd been electrocuted, using a bit of her magic to make it stand easier.

"I don't know, I've grown rather fond of him."

Olaf giggled, lazily swatting Elsa's hands away with a pink tinge to his pale cheeks. "Golly."

Anna finished her croissant with a flourish, stretching out and groaning as her back popped. "Well, unless you're keeping him Elsa, I have to deliver him back to his mansion."

"It's not a mansion!" Olaf protested, scooting off his seat.

Kristoff also stood, picking up the small boy and placing him on his thick shoulders with ease. "We've been over this kiddo. If it has a ballroom, it's a mansion."

"Psh, we don't even use it." Olaf crossed his arms, pouting. 

"Uh huh," Kristoff rolled his eyes, catching a look from Anna.

He smiled, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her lips. Olaf made a mock gagging noise, leaning far away from the man's head.

"I'll meet you at the sled?" Anna asked quietly, their lips still touching.

"It'll be warm for you when you get there." Kristoff smiled, pressing one last kiss to her before promptly strolling out of the café, sending a parting wave to Oaken and his husband behind the counter. He had to duck carefully as Olaf waved furiously at the sisters and Oaken. "Bye Elsa!! I'll see you soon! Have fun with your glacier!!"

Elsa chuckled, fingers drifting side to side in a calm wave. "Bye Olaf."

Anna slipped some cash for their meal under the butter dish, smiling. "He adores you, you know. You're his idol."

"It's the magic, obviously." Elsa snorted, methodically stacking the trash on top of their plates.

"What? Psshh, nooo…" 

Elsa’s eyebrow ticked up to her hairline, a playful smile on her lips.

Anna rolled her eyes. “It’s not _ all _ about the magic.”

“But mostly.” 

“Half.”

“Two-thirds.”

_ “Half _.” Anna laughed, gently pushing Elsa’s shoulder. “You stinker.”

Elsa grinned as Oaken’s hulking form tiptoed up to them, his hands crossed to form a triangle over his belly. Anna hopped over and hugged him around his waist, though her arms barely made it halfway around. 

“Everything was delicious as always, Mr. Oaken,” Elsa said warmly, accepting a side hug and easily dwarfed by the tall man. 

“Guud! Husband made pastries today, he will be pleased!” Oaken preened, smiling wide. “Annndd -”

“Your ice stores are already full of fresh snow.” Elsa added, smiling. “Extra soft for the kids.”

Oaken clapped his hands together with a happy shoulder shimmy. “Excellent! Oh, children will be so haeppy to haeve snow cones in sauna again!”

Anna and Elsa looked at each other, shrugging in tandem before Anna gave him another hug. “Well I gotta take Olaf back to his parents, it was nice seeing you Oaken!”

He gave a large, bushy smile, patting Anna on the head lightly. Elsa drifted over to Anna and accepted a light pat from Oaken with a giggle. Anna skipped away, but before Elsa could follow, Oaken’s hand fell heavy on her shoulder.

“Hoew is school?” He asked, bushy eyebrows pinched together. 

Elsa hesitated, fiddling with the end of her braid. She shrugged. “It’s...school. Diplomacy isn’t my favorite subject, but at least I’m good at it.”

“Eez your grandfather still trroubling you?”

Elsa relaxed, smiling up at Oaken. “No, other than the annual Christmas party invite he sends out every year. Thank you again, for...for talking with him.”

Oaken puffed out his chest, laughing from his belly and releasing her from the weight of his hand. “We haeve guud feelings now, yes! Bad man stays away. You let Oaken know eef he gives you hard time still, we solve prroblem again.”

Warmth rose from her chest to her eyes, stinging them slightly. She leaned up and pecked a kiss to his cheek, patting his thick forearm. “Thank you. I still wish you’d let me repay you with more than just snow.”

“No need! Family haes everything, and you are family now, yes!” Oaken patted her head, tilting his head to Anna who had stalled at the door. “Seester waits. Haeve good feelings, see you next week!”

Elsa laughed, waving one last time before joining Anna at the door. 

"Everything okay?" She asked, the chill of autumn kissing their cheeks in greeting. 

"Yeah, Oaken was wondering how school was. And...and if grandfather had bothered me at all." Elsa replied, wrapping the edges of her sweater around herself with a shrug. 

Anna frowned, her eyes flicking over her sister's form. "Has he?"

She shook her head. "No. Not since August. My tuition and rent are already paid for this semester, but... He hasn't called to check my grades or anything. I think he might...leave me be, for once."

Freckled fingers wrapped around Elsa's smooth palm, infusing warmth into the pale skin. But the sigh that shuddered from her lungs left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Hey, that's good, right?" Anna murmured.

Elsa shrugged, weakly squeezing Anna's hand in return. "I suppose it is… but there's always another shoe to drop. Something ready to go wrong."

"Hey, don't think like that, it'll just make you worry all the time. Plus, if anything goes wrong, you'll have us." Anna reassured, holding Elsa's gaze. She tried to weather against it, but broke after a beat, giving a lighter sigh and a shy smile.

"Yeah, you're right." Elsa hummed. 

She slipped her hand free of Anna's grasp, gently waving her along. Sparkles of snowflakes whirled around Anna's head in a small flurry, wrapping her braids around her mouth like a braided mustache. 

"Go on." Elsa smiled. "They're waiting for you, and I need to finish a paper before tomorrow." 

Anna spat out her hair, sputtering through her giggles, "But are you sure you're -"

"Anna, I love you, but you worry about me too much. Meanwhile, your boyfriend is alone with a twelve year old going through an existential crisis, and the only thing he's ever been able to keep alive is his dog." 

"P-pshhh, Sven is barely a dog!"

"More bear than dog, but still. Do you really want them to get bored waiting for you?"

Anna winced, her response weakening. "Kristoff is responsible!"

Elsa crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. "...Anna they went tobogganing down a sheer drop on trash can lids. Kristoff broke his nose, you couldn't kiss him for two weeks."

Anna sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, eyes darting to the side. "...Okay, fair point. 'Kay love you, bye!" She hastily wrapped her sister in a bone-cracking hug before speeding away, weaving through the crowds with a parting wave.

Left alone on the busy street, Elsa shook her head with a laugh and headed back to her dorm.

People parted from her path left and right like before, Elaa trudging along and trying to cling to the warmth left by the morning's events. The crowd around her faded into a dull roar of sound, her eyes dipping up to glance at the sky. The aurora was still out, gleaming as brightly as it would at midnight. It covered the sun with its brilliance, the perfect circular outline awash in bleeding colors of green and purple, like the way light peers through a sheer curtain.

A muscle in her jaw twinged from clenching her teeth, lips pressed into a thin line. She stopped in mid-stride, closing her eyes and listening hard for the melody in the sky.

One minute passed. Then two. A man with two dalmatians bumped into her, apologising profusely and continuing on his way. Still, the voice didn't come.

She shook her head, running her fingers through the icy fringe of her hair. "I must be sleep deprived." 

She continued on her way, the sky still fluctuating with color above her. She refused to look up again. Perhaps she would have seen the aurora disappear as silently as it had appeared - no one else the wiser.


	3. are you here to distract me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's given this fic a chance and dropped a kudos, I owe you my life <333 
> 
> Not much to say about this chapter, except that it's probably one of my favorites so far and I've been fucking DYING to post it. Hold onto your butts people, shit gets real from here on out :D

* * *

Bruni was upset that Elsa wouldn't take him with her the next day. The glass of his enclosure had fogged from the heat of his leathery skin, the little blue salamander pouting under his favorite perma-ice sculpture.

Elsa cooed at him, kneeling by the table and trying to coax him out. 

"Bruni, come on please - you _ know _that if you didn't melt my clothes, I'd take you."

She tried to make a small snow flurry in the corner of his cage, but a quick flash of purple fire evaporated the entire thing. Elsa huffed, affronted. She crossed her arms, glancing at the clock worriedly. Her bus was set to leave in thirty minutes, but she still had to reach the pick-up spot and check in with her teacher. Normally she'd just leave her grumpy salamander to deal with when she returns, but he'd been getting moodier and moodier over the past few weeks. Just last week he nearly set her bedspread on fire while she was in the shower because she didn't give him a flurry to snuggle in.

She sighed, rising up and bracing herself for heat. Bruni hissed at her hand as she gently scooped him up into her palms, hissing under her breath. "Oo, ow ow, hot -" Coating frost over her palms as quickly as he melted them.

Pushing through the stinging of her palms, she hummed a soothing song and sprinkled a small flurry over his head. The burning subsided as Bruni's pupils expanded, the purple flames licking along his sides dying down. He relaxed from an aggressive stance, clicking and cooing apologetically. 

Elsa relaxed, gently cradling him close and pressing a light kiss to his little head that sizzled on contact. "I'm sorry little one, I'll make it up to you."

The creature rubbed his cheek on her thumb as the snow piled up around his body, looking at her with big eyes before trying to eat a snowflake that tapped his nose. She smiled, gently setting him back in the enclosure. 

"We'll go out tomorrow and burn some stuff, okay?" She whispered, plopping a snowdrift into his cage big enough to take up half of it. Bruni popped out of the top with his tongue lolling out, chirping an affirmative before diving back in.

Elsa sighed in relief, snatching her bag from the floor and hurrying out the door. She locked it behind her, shoving her keys into the pocket of her long blue coat. 

Pale paletted this time, her clothes matched the color of the clear morning sky as she practically sprinted down empty streets to the main campus. Her satchel slapped into her hip with each stride, braid and coat flying out behind her. She froze the concrete beneath her thin boots and leapt. She slipped a little but managed to keep her footing, skating down the winding path through a thickly wooded park. The trees were abnormally tall for a campus greenbelt, but she paid them no mind, the clock ticking. As she emerged on the other side, the campus sprawled out before her.

Large, old brick buildings speckled the vast area, connected by threads of sidewalks that wove through greenery like stitching. In the center of everything was a large clock tower, the red brick mottled and crawling with ivy. It served as the grid reference for all campus maps; a cornerstone of navigation around the university colleges. 

And, it also happened to be right next to the parking lot.

Elsa spotted the bus parked along the curb. Her classmates were piling in already, her teacher holding a clipboard and counting heads off to the side.

Elsa sprinted the final stretch, reaching the bus doors just as the final five students were loading in. Her teacher gave her a stern look, but accepted her tardiness with a nod. 

She plopped into her seat and melted into the carpet-like fabric, lungs heaving, muscles throbbing. She closed her eyes, ignoring the quiet stares of her classmates.

Ignoring, until someone tapped her shoulder. 

Blue eyes snapped open and swiveled. Standing in the isle was a girl around Elsa's age, her skin a cool, smooth olive tone with rich chocolate hair braided down her back. She gave a small smile, her teardrop shaped eyes crinkling at the corners. "Can I sit next to you?"

Elsa froze (no pun intended), her voice swallowed by nerves. Pink crawled up her cheeks as she nodded hastily, trying not to breathe as hard as she scooted closer to the window. The girl sat beside her, just a little shorter than Elsa as she fiddled with her leather and fur lined bag. It looked old and worn, almost like an heirloom passed down through generations. She caught Elsa staring and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Honeymaren.” She said, reaching her hand over.

“E-Elsa,” She replied, carefully shaking her hand. 

“Wow, cold hands!” Honeymaren grinned.

Elsa pulled away with haste, laughing shyly, "Oh, yeah um...poor circulation. Have you been with Dr. Doppler the entire semester?”

"Yep! But there’s two hundred people in this class. I’m not surprised we haven’t met before.” 

Elsa curled her hands together in her lap, thumb digging into her palm like it was a worry stone. "Yeah…" 

Silence stretched between them, carrying a stifling weight with it. Elsa felt her bag buzz by her hip, and she quickly reached for it with an apologetic smile. "Excuse me."

Honeymaren waved a lazy hand, hunkering down in her seat as the bus rumbled to life beneath them. "No worries, I have headphones."

Exhaling a relieved sigh, she took out her phone, mentally thanking Anna for her timing. Any time she could spend _ not _ being an awkward mess to her classmates would be a win in her book.

_ BanAnna: SO HOW IS THE ICE _

_ BanAnna: PICTURES ELSA I NEED AJ;Dh _

_ BanAnna: Forgive me dear sister, a pungent, evil man stole my phone _.

Elsa smiled, tapping out a quick response. 

_ Freeze-a: Wow, and you let him live? _

_ BanAnna: I'm burying him as we speak. _

_ Freeze-a: That's my girl. _

"Hey." 

Honeymaren's soft voice snapped her away from her phone, her hands pulling the device to her chest instinctively.

The dark haired woman gave a sheepish smile, on earbud dangling by her braid. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I just… I saw your name on the text and I had to ask about it."

"Were you reading my texts?" Elsa shrunk down towards the window, frowning mightily.

Honeymaren's warm eyes widened in panic, waving her hands quickly in denial. "No! No I swear I didn't read them. I just caught a glimpse of your name in the chat." 

When Elsa continued to stare accusingly, Honeymaren winced, adding on earnestly, "I _ promise _."

Elsa frowned, slowly relaxing. She stayed in her corner though, shoulder pressed against the window. Honeymaren fidgeted in her seat, palms rubbing together methodically. Her shoulders were hunched, her eyes cast down shamefully.

"...Can I ask why your chat name is 'Freeze-a'?" 

Elsa sighed, phone buzzing in her palm again. She glanced at it, muttering, "It's a little late to ask to do something when you've already done it.

Honeymaren sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "..R-right.."

Elsa glanced down at her phone again, tapping out a quick response to Anna. She paused, thumbs hovering over the screen.

"...When I was ten, my father told me I could dress up as anyone for Halloween." She started, ignoring the way Honeymaren's gaze snapped to her like a magnet. "There was a new kid's show out from Japan that Anna and I were obsessed with at the time, and I loved the main villain's look. So I decided to go as him for Halloween, and my sister Anna went as one of the main protagonists. We were pretty wild for children, and… I knocked Anna into a snowbank."

She left out the part where Anna had goaded her into creating a snow-version of the planet Vegeta, simulating its destruction by dispelling it into a flurry. Anna then threw herself to the floor in anguish of her 'lost planet', crying big crocodile tears and claiming revenge on 'Lord Freeze-a'. Her mother was in tears by the end of it, and the name always brought up the unbridled joy of her laughter. Back when it still had a voice.

Honeymaren grinned slightly, the cheer renewed in her cheeks. "I would never have guessed that you were a Dragonball Z fan."

Elsa waved her hand noncommittally. "It was huge where we lived at the time."

"And where was that?"

Elsa flinched, a hint of discomfort tasting of salt in the back of her throat. Her voice hardened. "Has anyone told you that you ask too many questions?"

"I'm just curious! I mean has anyone told you that you’re hard to get to know?” Honeymaren frowned.

Elsa huffed, regretfully feeling the sting of truth in her statement. She felt a set of very familiar doors closing her off from the conversation, her gaze drifting to the window unseeingly. She straightened her posture, shoulders rolling back like she was sitting on a throne rather than a dirty old bus seat. It made her feel like she was back in etiquette class, her grandfather breathing down her neck. A snap of a ruler on her shoulder to keep her posture locked in place, no matter how much her spine ached.

"I'm a private person." She said softly. "I would like to keep it that way."

Honeymaren quieted, the space filled with contentious tension. Out of the corner of her eye, Elsa saw her acquiesce with a slight nod. She averted her dark eyes. 

"Sorry… I'm from a small community, I forget that not everyone is up front with their lives. I'm used to people being open about themselves. I'll keep out of your hair."

She pushed in her earphones before Elsa could get another word in, pointedly refusing to look at her.. 

Elsa faltered, her hands wrapping together tightly in her lap. Frost started to creep over the edges of her phone, but she took a few short breaths to calm herself. She wondered for the thousandth time why she had to be like this. Distant. Aloof. Could she ever be normal? 

Her phone buzzed cheerfully in her palm and she quickly latched onto the distraction.

_ BanAnna: So any news with gpa and the christmas thing? I totally forgot to ask yesterday! _

Elsa smiled softly at her phone, the tension draining from her shoulders slowly.

_ Freeze-a: The annual invite came right on time. _

_ BanAnna: Are you going? _

She hesitated and glanced back out the window, paying attention to the scenery this time. Great green mountains rose to kiss the tempered blue sky, their tips dusted with pretty white snow. They nearly swallowed the sky from their closeness, the bus dipping and coiling up the road.

She responded to Anna, choosing her words carefully.

_ Freeze-a: I have to. He'll keep my tuition money from me next semester if I don't. _

_ BanAnna: Well if you _ have _ to go, then I do too! Gpa is grumpy on his best days, you don't have to deal with him alone! Maybe this time we can get through to him! _

_ Freeze-a: Anna no. Grandfather is my burden to bear, not yours. You've already gotten your freedom from his money, I don't want to drag you back for his 'perfect' Christmas party. _

_ BanAnna: Pssh excuse me, I followed you across four countries, beat off wolves with a guitar, nearly died of frostbite, AND saved you from my insane ex-boyfriend. I’m coming with you to gpa's highbrow party whether you like it or not. _

Elsa winced, guilt rising like a gas bubble in her stomach. She was halfway through typing out 'I'm sorry’ before Anna messaged her again.

_ BanAnna: I see those dots a-dancing you better not be apologising. _

She couldn't help but chortle under her breath, pressing her forehead warmly to the window.

_ Freeze-a: Why ever would I apologise to you for breaking my favorite guitar? _

_ BanAnna: IT WAS YOU OR FLUFFY AND I STILL HEAR THAT YELP IN MY DREAMS. _

_ Freeze-a: Still? _

_ BanAnna: HE WAS JUST AN OVERGROWN PUPPY ELSA _

_ BanAnna: wITH REALLY SHARP TEETH _

_ BanAnna: AND CLAWS. _

_ Freeze-a: And friends, who were also very hungry for a taste of you. _

_ BanAnna: They’re not the only ones and also nOT THE POINT. I know when you’re deflecting. Classic case right here. I’ll use this as exhibit F in future point-making discussions. _

Elsa snorted, her upper body jolting as the bus hissed to a stop. Her eyes snapped up at the same time as Honeymaren, awkwardly avoiding eye contact as her teacher rose and called for everyone to unload. Elsa hastily typed the rest of her text, gathering her bag at her feet. She waited for the front of the bus to leave, Anna's response dragging her attention.

_ Freeze-a: Anna, first off, ew. Please keep your sex life as far away from me as possible, thank you. And as much as I love going back and forth with you, I have a glacier to explore. _

_ BanAnna: DEFLECTING EXHIBIT G _

_ BanAnna: Open mind, open heart Elsa! You promised! _

She reread Anna's texts, a soft, reluctant sigh loosening the cage around her heart. She tapped out another message.

_ Freeze-a: I promise to talk about it when I get back. You're right, as usual. Open mind, open heart. _

_ BanAnna: I'll be here to listen <3 _

_ BanAnna: love you have fun take pictures don’t die plz _

Elsa smiled, hoisting her bag onto her shoulder, sending one last text.

_ Freeze-a: You can’t get rid of me that easily <3 _

She quickly shoved her phone into her bag, following Honeymaren down the cramped isles quietly. They parted ways at the foot of the stairs, and Elsa couldn't help the remorse in her chest. Honeymaren really was nice, Elsa was just...prickly. She watched her dissolve into the enormous crowd of students, sighing.

"Alright everyone, gather around." Her teacher called, gesturing for his class to huddle.

The building they'd parked in front of was situated at the base of a mountain. Small, sleek, and new, apart from a glass bubble topping the cube like a little bowler hat; the building's metal and glass shone almost white in the light. A vast contrast to the thick foliage from the mountain side trying to consume it from behind. A sign erected beside the building read ‘Delle Research Park and Observatory', embellished with depictions of crocus flowers along the borders.

Elsa spotted a few living pockets of crocus flowers peeking their swaying violet heads from where the pavement dropped off to the frozen fjord. The water was caged under layers and layers of frost for the autumn months. Ice rolled out to the horizon from the base of the mountain, following the curve of land until that too dropped away. Elsa turned away from the fjord, her head tilting back as she looked past the treetops. The mountains beyond were nothing short of spectacular. Two, three, five different crests of craggy tops rose in a veritable wall of rock, stretching up and out as if creating a staircase to the heavens for giants. Clouds wove around the trees like river stones, drifting peacefully in cold silence. 

As beautiful as it was, Elsa could tell she wasn't the only one confused. Whispers passed around behind her, questioning. Where was the glacier?

"Welcome to Delle Research Park and Observatory." Dr. Doppler chimed, clapping his hands together to call everyone into order. "We're about to experience one of the most recent and impactful discoveries of the world today. We in the scientific community have started calling it the eighth wonder."

Elsa picked up a few snide whispers from her classmates, tuning them out as she decided to move spots. She rounded the edge of the crowd, sticking to the outskirts to avoid her own claustrophobia.

“Because our group is so large, we’ll be splitting in two. One group will go to the glacier first, the other will take a tour of the facility with me. Don’t fret, we’ll have ample time to explore both. I’ll be choosing groups alphabetically to remain fair.”

A chorus of groans rippled through the students, but her teacher plowed on, calling out names from a roster and pointing where they need to stand. Elsa waited, a breeze tickling her cheeks. The people around her shivered, a few rubbing their arms. She closed her eyes, breathing in the wet smell of forest and clean, sharp cold. 

_ ...aah...a-ah… _

Elsa barely refrained from freezing herself to the ground, her shoulders jerking up to her ears as she looked up and around. The sky was clear, no sign of an aurora or anything unusual. Her heart pounded in her ears regardless, paranoia rising like a tidal wave and rushing through her head.

“-burg. Oldenburg. Elsa Oldenburg? There she is, will someone nudge her?”

Elsa jerked away before they could touch her, stammering, “S-sorry, I’ll line up.” She paused, cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “...Which group was it again?”

Dr. Doppler shook his head sternly, pointing to the glacier group. “There, if you’d be so kind.”

Elsa hastily dipped her head in thanks, gripping the end of her braid with white knuckles. She avoided eye contact with everyone in her group, every breath shaking her ribs like the way window shutters rattle in a storm. She could still hear it echoing, as if the voice was a tangible thing that bouncing off the walls of the valley, skipping across the partially frozen fjord. Someone was talking, but it was more like a buzz in her ears, irritating and distant. She barely realized that one of the spindly researchers had joined them, talking animatedly to her group with his hands and nearly knocking off his round glasses in the process.

They started to move as a group towards a path in the trees, moving left of the building as the other group filed into the facility. Elsa fell back to the edges of her classmates once more, searching the trees for some semblance of a source for the echoing sound.

"Hey...are you okay?"

Elsa quickly tried to look like she wasn't hearing strange voices, which...went about as well as you'd expect. She turned with wide eyes, meeting the dark, concerned gaze of Honeymaren. She gave a shaky, unconvincing smile. "I'm fine. Just um… a little cold.”

“You do look a little pale.” Honeymaren frowned, gesturing to her clothes. “Did you bring an extra jacket?”

Quickly seeing the conversation closing in, Elsa stammered, “A-ah no I um - I was a little late and I...forgot?”

The shorter girl started to take off her own jacket, which Elsa frantically waved away. “No no, you don’t need to do that.”

“We can’t have you freezing to death.” Honeymaren joked, passing her fur-lined jacket over. 

Elsa took it hesitantly, thumbs rubbing along the leather. “But...won’t you be cold?”

Honeymaren grinned, flexing a little in her long sleeved shirt. “Nah, where I grew up, this is summer weather.”

“...Well, thank you. This is...really sweet of you.” Elsa smiled thinly, gaze skipping off the lines of her biceps.

“Have I... redeemed myself from the bus?” Honeymaren asked hopefully. “I shouldn’t have pushed earlier, and I’m sorry.”

Elsa slowly shrugged on the jacket, sighing as the warmth enveloped her. The sleeves were a little too short, but she pushed her hands into the pockets regardless. The jacket smelled of mulch and juniper berries, the scent sticking to the roof of her mouth like breathing in good tea. Elsa shook her head, an apologetic smile on her face. “You don’t need to redeem yourself, I know I overreacted. I’m sorry the conversation didn’t go smoother.”

“Well, now that we’re both sorry,” Honeymaren replied with a cheeky smile, “How about we start over?”

She stuck her hand out, which was a little difficult to keep steady as they trudged down a path surrounded by thick forest and small snow banks. “Hi, I’m Honeymaren. I have a little brother named Ryder and I like painting.”

Elsa laughed softly, reaching out to take her hand -

_ Aaah AaaOOOH. _

Elsa’s neck nearly snapped with how fast she turned, her expression dropping like a stone. Honeymaren immediately picked up her alarm, her eyes widening. “Elsa?”

“I-” She was hyperventilating, her entire body shivering with phantom cold. “I -”

“Ladies, please keep up with the group!” Came the call of their guide, his glasses dangerously close to sliding off his straight nose. “We can’t have you missing the best part!”

Elsa sucked in a quick breath, giving Honeymaren a devastated look. “I’m sorry, we should, um. We should go.” 

She quickly bolted ahead to catch up to their guide, ignoring the confused call of her tentative friend behind her. Alighting next to the thin man, she stopped in her tracks. They had curved around the base of the mountain to finally get a glimpse of the valley.

Elsa had never seen something so beautiful as the frozen fjord, and the massive glacier settled between two mountains; pale sunlight casting an ethereal and sharp blue glow about its surface. The glacier stretched above their heads in a behemoth cliff that starkly rose from the flat icy plains of the fjord. It had to have been at least a hundred feet high. the glacier itself stretched back into the valley as far as she could see. It was so oddly shaped - Elsa could almost hear Anna's exclamation of how it looked like the view of a tongue from the back of a mouth.

Although, nothing could have prepared her for the moment she noticed the dark shape of _ something _stuck in the wall of ice. A monument of sorts, a black form outlined in the blue that spanned half the height of the glacier itself. Noticeable, even at this distance.

“Welcome to the lost city of Arendelle,” The guide announced, shocking her out of her stupor with his bubbly tone. He gestured to the shape, grinning wildly. “An entire castle frozen for over thousands of years, and only now revealing itself to the world. With the handy help of climate change.”

Something heavy settled into her stomach - a weight that made her want to sink to the floor and cry. She didn’t know where the impulse came from, she couldn’t understand it. The longer she stared at the shape in the ice, the more she felt consumed by the feeling that something was very, very wrong.

“This is one of the greatest finds of our century, purely because," The guide paused, and it was clear he'd been leading up to this moment for the entire tour. "It makes no sense! It makes no scientific sense for an 18th century castle to be buried in a glacier due to the very nature of glacier formation! I mean - ehem, excuse me." He coughed in embarrassment, noticing the blank stares from the students around him. Elsa wasn't sure what expression was on her own face, but it felt similar to the realisation of food poisoning. "I get a little carried away sometimes, my apologies. A-anyway, we’ve only just reached the balustrades of the eastern tower due to the increased temperatures of the past few years."

The guide fumbled with his glasses before gesturing towards the glacier. “Would you like to take a closer look?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sidenote: the guide is my favorite disney character (and represents me spiritually), points if you can guess who he is :D


	4. so i make a big mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh hohohoho this is my absolute favorite chapter so far - I'm having so much fun writing this thing T.T I went and saw Frozen 2 for the 3rd time in theaters and every time I see it I pick up more and more ideas for this fic :D Thank you to everyone who's left kudos so far, it means the world to me that this is starting to gain some traction, especially with an OC pairing and stuff :>
> 
> Kudos and comments very much appreciated!! I love hearing y'alls ideas and conversations :>

* * *

“As you can see here, the embellishments along the water gates seem to closely resemble symbols from the nordic nomadic tribes that passed through -” The guide’s teeth chattered while he spoke, a cold wind buffeting them over the wide plain of ice. 

Elsa admired his dedication to educating them, even though half of her class seemed more focused on the massive wall of crystal blue arching over their heads. Flat wooden slats had been lined up to create a wiggling walkway along the surface of the fjord, only partially completed as there weren’t any railings. Elsa hung towards the back of the single file line, finding herself drifting off the platform and gliding across the frozen surface alongside it. She preferred the feel of ice under her feet.

Honeymaren had gotten stuck near the center of the line, forced to move along at the guide’s excited pace. Elsa still wasn’t sure how she felt about the other girl’s attention. She resolved to worry about it later. She had bigger things on her mind. The queasy feeling hadn’t left her at all. In fact if she stared at the looming tower for too long, it seemed to worsen. But also, there was something about it where she couldn't take her eyes away. A strange, familiar ache about everything. 

Elsa found herself drifting closer to the outcropping of rock jutting out of the ice. She got close enough to hear and see the water dripping down its side, pooling into pockets eroded in the ice - though none seemed to pierce the surface enough to reach the water beneath. Elsa’s gaze drifted up and up, the sheer size of the ice enough to give her vertigo. She snapped a picture for Kristoff.

"The shape of this valley glacier has been speculated about for years." The guide's voice drifted excitedly to the back of the line, "Where as most valley glaciers tend to be shaped like tongues, tapering down to sea level when it reaches the water - this one has a sheer drop that science can't quite explain! It's almost like the river froze in mid-tidal wave!"

As they passed the outer wall, Elsa's gliding steps grew slower and slower, falling behind the group. Her class shuffled along, pulling away from her as she snapped another picture, trying her best to ignore the unsettled feeling in her stomach. Water cascaded down the ice in fast licks, the drops echoing across the open fjord. The horrible weight in her stomach worsened as Elsa’s gaze drifted to the base of the tower.

“The castle seems to be built on a peninsula that reaches further into the glacier than we can actually see. Every summer the ice melts about three inches inward. We’re hoping we’ll be able to see the entirety of the eastern tower by the end of the decade…”

The guide’s voice faded into the background as she focused on the rock outcropping in front of her, following the odd dip of ice that exposed the very base of the tower. There was a strange apex between the ice and the wall, shadowed so deeply that the details were obscured. Elsa slowly turned to catch up with her class, but something caught her eye and made her double-take. 

Squinting down at the base where water pooled around the stone at least three inches thick, there was an odd, still shape in the shadows. She shuffled a little to the eroded edge, her magic glinting at her fingertips. She sent a small spray of frost to illuminate the corner.

There, shadowed by the wall, was a small door set slightly ajar.

Elsa glanced back at her class, which had moved on to one of the soaked staircases along the water gates. Her classmate’s voices were lost to the breeze by now, she could only make out a few colorful jackets. She opened her mouth to call their attention -

And the voice from her dreams erupted from the open door sudden as a gunshot.

** _AAAH AAH -_ **

She startled so violently that her feet slipped out from beneath her, ice sparking from her fingertips too late as she spun and slid into the tower side. Her skull cracked against the stone, vision tunneling in pain. Elsa gasped to catch her breath. Water lapped at her clothes, but it only soaked into Honeymaren’s jacket, clinging to the layers of fur on the inside.

She tilted her swimming head to the side, blinking furiously as the siren’s voice caressed the inside of her ears at a softer volume. The song sounded almost...apologetic. Gentle and pleading. A light flickered inside the doorway, and Elsa couldn’t stop herself from looking if she tried. 

Expecting to see a solid wall of ice, her heart nearly stopped when she found a tall, hollow hallway instead.

_ Aaoh aaaooo... _

A pale green light suddenly pulsed to life along the ice near her fingers, slithering a path into the darkness of the open door. It bounced from the glinting surface to the ceiling, growing brighter as it moved. 

Elsa's eyes devoured everything she could see. Five foot long icicles hung from the ceiling, dripping holes into the two inch thick layer of ice coating the floor. Ice that tapered out into the soaked rugs and warped wooden slats of the castle floor. Silent suits of splotchy armor were pushed into corners and partially submerged. Soggy tapestries clung to the walls for dear life, the images long since rotted away with time. Fascination and confusion rushed through her veins like a maelstrom of butterflies - sharpening the incredible details. 

And as the light danced, the siren's song called. This time there was no pause, or silence. It changed notes, hopping into a different key and coaxing her under its spell. It was so gentle - hesitant and lonely in a way Elsa understood by instinct. Pure, raw purpose surged within her, unnamed but powerful in its prosanguinity. 

The water splashed about her boots as she sloughed to her feet. Her throbbing head became an afterthought. The jacket around her suddenly felt like it was made of lead, slowing her movements. Without even thinking, she shed Honeymaren’s coat and squeezed into the doorway, leaving it soaking in the glacier water. She could smell the wet in the air, coating her tongue with the taste of rotting fabrics and rust. 

“H..hello?” She called, her voice sounding weak to her own ears.

The siren's song excitedly kicked up a notch. The light danced from icicle to icicle in colors of violet, greenish-blue, and yellow. Elsa's hands shook, but not from the cold. This was another magic entirely, she could feel it in her bones.

“Are..are you the one calling to me?” She whispered, her eyes following the light as it leapt.

The voice was clearer than it had ever been, and Elsa never realized how...enchanting it was. There were no words, only vocalizations - but it pulled her along like invisible hands cradling her cheeks, seducing her down the hallway. She followed as a moth seeks the flame, passing each tapestry and suit of armor; passing a few tables with knocked over candelabra and geometric shapes carved into their surface. She’d fallen into a haze, entranced by the song, the lights, the wonder - bathed in soft lambency of blues, greens, and violets.

The hallways seemed to stretch forever - but she did reach the end. 

She stopped at a pair of large double doors, diamonds faded along their surface and the paint so faded it only retained a ghost of a flower in the center of the doors. Her siren's voice wrapped itself around Elsa, kissing her ears with pleading notes as her hand reached for the handle…

She hesitated, her fingertips hovering over the rusted metal. 

The song slowed its frantic tempo, as if sensing her hesitation. It crooned one last time before slipping under the door, and taking the colors with it. Elsa was plunged into darkness, coming back to herself like a rubber band stretched too far. Her breath stuttered in her chest, heartbeat suddenly tripling its speed, like it hadn’t realised its own peril.

“Ohhh what am I doing?” She whispered to herself, pressing her hovering hand to her forehead instead. 

Panicked, she turned around to leave - but the ice under her boots lit up, stopping her in her tracks. She stared as the bright colours wavered, folding into ribbons like an aurora borealis trapped in the ice. Faintly muffled from behind the doors, she felt more than heard the siren singing mournfully at her departure.

She looked back at it, her hand curled and resting against her sternum. 

"What...what do you want?" She whispered, almost afraid to speak too loudly. "Why are you calling me?"

There was no answer.

The voice faded to nothing, and Elsa felt the silence press harshly against her ears. The glacier around the castle groaned like an ancient, aching thing. The ceiling dripped with water from the cracks in the stone. It echoed loudly in the frosty air, Elsa’s thoughts disrupted by each droplet. She knew she should have appreciated the peace and quiet - but she couldn't shake her sense of loss at the voice's absence. 

_ Plink _.

Why her? Why now?

_ Plink. _

Who was this secret siren?

_ Plink _.

Would it hurt if she looked behind the doors?

_ Plink. _

Oh the pull of curiosity was too much. Her magic vibrated at her fingertips as she reached back for the handle. Acutely feeling every slip of blood rushing through her. Her heart a drum beat. Elsa opened the left door and peeked inside. 

An untouched room stood before her, the roof apexed like two playing cards balanced together. The floors had a startling lack of ice on them, the wood still gleaming with varnish. The intact triangular windows allowed a ghostly blue light to filter through, washing out the wallpaper's vibrant red hue and spotlighting the single chair set at the head of the room.

The siren's light blinked slowly from the top of the throne.

Elsa winced, her temple throbbing swiftly, as if to punish her for looking upon it. The glow at the top of the throne flickered weakly, the song all but a whisper through tired halls. It pulled at her, but her will was still her own. She could refuse it easily in a state like this.

Except, she wasn't sure she wanted to.

Curiosity bit at her heels, unanswered questions driving her one foot forward, then the next. She left the door ajar, floors creaking like screams in the sanctity of this forgotten place of power. Her magic bristled under her skin, dancing anxiously along her nerves as she gravitated towards the throne. 

Something about this place felt...wrong. Elsa couldn't put her finger on it.

The chair itself was made of a light but sturdy wood, the back panel ornately carved and cut like an hourglass, tipped with a single small, thin plaque of wood shaped like a diamond. As she drew closer, she could see a very thin sheet of ice covering the diamond shape, sourceless colours glinting in it like jewels. The song came softly, as if reaching out for her. Searching.

She stopped a few feet away, shivering in her boots.

Almost afraid to touch it, ice crackled along the floor, spidering out from her toes as her nerves spiked. Her breath was loud in her ears, pluming in front of her in short cloud bursts. She gave a measured inhale.

"A...Aah aaooh." Elsa called, her voice trembling.

She waited a beat. And the light fluctuated brighter. Changing rapidly from purple to green to orange, finally settling on a light green. Then as quickly as it came, it winked out of the ice. Elsa was startled to find the light emerging buoyantly from the spikes of ice around her ankles, swirling up her leg and casting a colorful, jeweled look among her clothes. Wherever it passed felt oddly warm, like the touch of a palm over cold skin.

She giggled nervously, pressing her hand against her sternum where the luminance lingered for a moment. "You liked that, huh?"

The song trilled to life in her ears at a normal volume, opening notes weaving eagerly between the icy threads of her clothes. 

"What _ are _ you?" She murmured, raising her palm up high and releasing a burst of ice a few feet in the air. 

Snow drifted down from the ceiling, sparkling in the pale glacial light like slow raindrops of silver. The siren, spirit, whatever it was, immediately jumped into the flurries, colors cascading in fractals along the walls.

Humming wordlessly, it kicked up a tempo. The flurries illuminated with its presence and suddenly swirled in a magnificent display of shapes. A burst of air whipped her braid over her shoulder. The shapes expanded and dipped, flashing in deep ethereal blues and purples. She could feel the siren’s presence like the arrival of something exciting and new. The lights were something tangible brushing around her body closely. Elsa laughed breathlessly, awed by the display.

She released a burst of ice, then another, and another. 

The siren danced in her magic. It whirled around her with joy befitting of their voice. Elsa's laughter filled the hall, her hair whipping about in the motions. The lights grew in power around her, but so did she. Magic poured into her veins, bursting free from her hands and stomping feet. Oh she was on a high like no other. It was an impression of belonging she rarely felt outside of being around her sister. A sense deep in her soul that she was perfectly safe.

Elsa found herself singing along with the siren. As the first notes left her lips, the radiance exploded into full fledged images.

She saw reindeer, she saw a forest. She saw the wind and the leaves, massive mountains with eyes and fat noses. The images grew taller and taller with their duet. All the while her magic seamlessly blended with the siren's deeper, powerful gift. She was _ so _ close to something like answers, she didn't care where the spirit lead her. She wanted to know why it felt familiar, why this light in her magic had grown brighter at the siren's call. _ What _ was calling her. 

"Do you know me? Can you feel me? Can you show me??" She raised her voice to the rafters, begging, pleading. 

The light twisted and caressed her face with ethereal blue hands made of snow flurries, the snowflake's intricate shapes blurred by their brilliance. It lead her up the platform steps to the throne, air thick with yearning. Breathless and wide eyed, she followed the touch as a river flows to the sea - intrinsic. Instinctive. 

Inevitable.

Her fingertips touched the iced over diamond plaque.

And the song disappeared as if sucked into a vacuum. Taking the light with it. 

Elsa froze, chest heaving with the remnants of joy. The quiet was a cold bucket of water to the face, the rapid pulse of her heart now a sole, echoing thing. Snow fell gently from the ceiling, simple and white. For a fleeting moment, the quiet was so thick she felt like she'd dropped into a void. That she was just another sheet of ice in the ancient glacier.

That none of this was real.

Elsa's knee rested on the seat of the throne, her hair a wild mess and coming loose from her braid. The castle creaked above her, and she quickly stumbled off the throne as if it would eat her. She raked her hands through her hair, darkened blue eyes skipping over the throne, the diamond, the room.

She gasped.

Hundreds of icy, crystalline diamonds filled the air in the throne room, floating with a chilling stillness. Snow drifted lazily from the ceiling. 

Elsa found herself afraid to move, taking in shallow breaths. A small diamond-shaped crystal hovered mere inches from her nose, several others scattered above her head. She noticed strange carvings in the small crystals, consisting of a border and an image inside. Her eyes darted from the crystal in front of her to the one just above, and four others within touching distance.

_ There's a pattern… _ She realised with a shock, her attention pinging between each diamond. 

She reached up for the crystal, her hand trembling ever so slightly. Her fingers grazed the bottom, and like snapping elastic, the diamonds fell all at once. A sound similar to that of a thousand glass jars bouncing on wood made her flinch, flinging her arms over her head. Some fell across her forearms and shoulders, bouncing harmlessly off her icy clothes.

As soon as the chime of fallen crystals died down, Elsa peaked through her elbow and bit her lip to keep from gasping again.

Scattered around the snow-dusted floor with pale blue light skipping off their frozen bodies, stood over twenty humanoid statues seemingly blasted by ice. They stood in groups of three or four, frozen in the midst of doing an activity. She swallowed hard, acutely feeling her heart thundering in her chest. Slowly, ever so slowly, she crept down the short steps - each foothold more hesitant than the last. Elsa felt a chill pass through her.

To her left was a small group of sculptures that appeared to be...dancing?

Growing braver, she ducked under an arm and circled a pair in the midst of a lift. The detailing of their clothes spoke of wealth and prestige, though they wore bright smiles befitting of celebration. Elsa's eyes followed the curving smile of a lady with short curly hair, her partner bowing to her. 

"What...is this..?" She murmured, eyebrows pinching together. 

In response, eerie words lilting in musical pitch seemed to drift into being. Sourceless, and haunting. As if the glacier itself had a voice. The music ebbed and flowed out of focus like a gentle tide.

_ When...wind…meets th...there's a river… _

Elsa's entire body jolted as a sickening wave of deja vu nearly brought her to her knees. She managed to catch herself on the hand of the curly haired statue. She looked around the room frantically, now searching for the light to guide her as it had before.

She saw no sparkle, not even a flicker of green. An indescribable loneliness wrapped its cruel fingers around her heart, squeezing as the song began to fade out of earshot. She stumbled out of the dancer's circle, passing the second group of statues with ice crunching noisily underfoot. 

These sculptures were positioned defensively, a little man in a militaristic uniform and wide round glasses screaming soundlessly. He was pointing to the door, clinging to the arm of a much, much larger man. Spires of ice jutted out from the floor towards them in a wall, and Elsa felt a headache beginning to pound in her temples.

_ Not too far….. be drowned…. _

Her lungs worked faster and faster as panic clouded her thoughts. The voice was fading fast, and Elsa…

Elsa wasn't ready for it to leave.

The cold stung the back of her throat with each sharp breath. She could taste frost coating her tongue. She scrambled past the frightened statues to the third and fourth groups, finding herself about halfway across the ballroom. On her left was a pair of adults with their backs turned to her, cradling what looked to be a child in their arms. On her right, a tall, imposing man with a bushy mustache stood in a military uniform, body frozen with tension as he spoke down to a trio of trolls at his feet. The trolls gave Elsa pause, but not for long.

_ She….sing….who hear… _

The voice was closer than she’d ever heard, muffled as if calling through a barrier. Pulled by the string of song, she rushed past to the final two statues to the end of the ballroom. A massive set of double doors painted with crocus flowers arched over their icy heads. She stopped so abruptly she nearly slipped on the crystals under her feet, panting from exertion.

The final two statues were...horrifying. A different imposing man had a wide grin on his face, his large hand coiled around the neck of a girl seemingly no older than Elsa. Chains dripped from her body and pooled at her knees, her head thrown back in a soundless scream while her hands seemed to scrabble for the man's fingers. Geometric designs crawled across her arms and neck, and her hair was short and loosely curled underneath a mask made of a reindeer's skull. Adorned with various bones, baubles, and beads, the antlers of the skull nearly touched the floor with how far back her head was tilted. A few teeth were crooked in her mouth as it stretched wide with her scream.

Elsa pulled away from the sight, a massive shiver ripping through her body. Her headache pounded away, black tinting the edges of her vision. She could see her breath pulsing from her lips, her legs unsteady as she tried to reach the double doors.

"Please - what do you want from me? What is this??" Elsa begged, her palms pressing against the doors to find them immoveable.

The voice seemed to dissolve in the air, its echo vanishing without a trace.

Pain crashed into Elsa like a wave, driving her to her knees in a cry. The diamonds on the floor cut into her pants, but she couldn't feel it past the numbness spreading through her. She couldn't bend her fingers at the knuckles, hands shaking and stiff with cold. Desperation filled her lead limbs as Elsa reached for her phone - until her headache surged so suddenly her breath escaped in a high pitched wheeze.

Black fingers around the edges of her vision tunneled in and she dropped to her side, ice scraping her cheekbone. The pain in her head was so great she felt like her brain had turned to soup, sloshing against the insides of her skull with raw nerves. She curled into a tight ball, tears dripping and freezing over her skin. 

At the precipice of sweet, sweet unconsciousness, Elsa could have sworn she felt gentle fingers combing through her hair. A soft, sweet voice singing to carry her over the edge of darkness.

Her last thought was of Anna, wishing she could have lasted long enough to send her those pictures.


	5. i'm afraid of what i'm risking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why hello! I just started school so updates will certainly be slower, but I am really excited to get to the meat and bones of this story :D Thank you so much to everyone who's left a comment or kudos (or both!) Y'all make my day so fucking stellar with your words! <333 This is kind of where all the bread crumbs are bein laid out as well, so patience please if you feel confused about everything! It will all be explained in due time! 
> 
> Sidenote if y'all wanna swing by and say hi or scream about the story to me, check out my tumblr @mm-yikes 
> 
> Anyway, that's enough from me! Enjoy! :>

* * *

She dreamed of a fjord.

Of a valley so beautiful even the sky seemed to bow upwards to give the mountains space. Crystal clear blue waters, craggy cliffs dripping with fresh water and lichen. Curling paths that winded over the lands. A clearing with four large pillars of stone erected in a semi circle, like the mysterious smile of the waning moon. Large carvings took upon their faces in an eerily familiar diamond pattern. 

Elsa blinked, and found herself standing in a forest. Birch trees rustling high above her head with leaves bright like fire. She started to walk. Something jingled with each step - liked beads tapping together. Even as part of her consciousness wondered where she was going, her feet seemed to know the way. Under rocky outcroppings, over the swells of cold land. Birds chirped quietly around her. A herd of reindeer clicked to each other, out of sight. The jingling kept pace with her steps. She passed a stream, and happened to glance down at the water. 

Elsa almost screamed. 

The reflection was not her own, but of a girl wrapped in thick hides and furs, wearing a terrifying reindeer skull as a mask. The antlers were draped in beads, bones, and glittering pieces of glass dangling between like flies caught in a spider’s web. Deep, dark brown strands of hair curled around her face, small braids pocketed amongst the thick waves as they fell to her shoulders. Bone white eye sockets revealed a pair of pale jade green eyes ringed by dark ocher skin and thick black lashes. The eyes seemed to glow in her reflection, the color streaked across the imperfect mirror.

Elsa - no, the girl - turned and kept walking. She couldn't stop the movement, no matter how much she tried. Elsa was forced to stay as a spectator, watching as the trees started to grow closer and closer together. The peace of the forest broke from voices rising in the distance. Metal clashed, the voices grew more distressed. Someone screamed. A gust of wind whipped around her out of nowhere, tugging at her clothes and pulling her towards the noise. 

“_ Hvisper? _” Elsa felt her mouth move, but the feather-light voice that escaped was not what she was expecting. “What - slow down, who is fighting who?"

The wind nearly boxed her ears, and Elsa/the girl flinched. "I ask because I ask! It is not my duty to calm the quarrels between humans!"

The wind whistled in her ears, carrying a cry over the treetops to her. A familiar call - one that struck Elsa with deja vu so great she nearly ejected herself from the dream.

Elsa felt the girl's body seize with recognition, her jaw loosening in cold realization. 

_ " _Little red." She whispered, a burning sensation rising in her chest and hands. 

Elsa had never experienced such internal warmth in her entire life. It seared her bones, lit up her veins with pure power. Elsa felt it scorch so brightly it severed the connection between them like a thread snapping over a fire. Booted from the foreign body, she was left in a third-eye view, uncertain of her own form. 

The girl was smaller than she seemed from the stream's reflection, her antlers making up most of the height and her clothes bulking up her body. She seemed more human this way, when Elsa couldn't feel the immense energy beneath her skin. Even though she knew it was there, the girl's exterior showed none of it. 

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light, swallowing the ground and spot where she stood. Blinking the stars from her vision, Elsa refocused and found the girl gone, without a trace.

The world seemed to move faster from there. Above her head, an aurora exploded across the sky. A four pointed star flashed closer to the horizon, and a massive blanket of mist dropped over the forest. So thick it flooded the land with sparkling gray clouds, swallowing all she could see. It surrounded Elsa, blinding and choking her with the taste of ozone.

The ground rumbled beneath her. She felt a powerful swirl of wind tugging her hair. Water soaked into her clothes, cold permeating through her muscles at a slow crawl. Warmth licked at her feet, wood crackling in fire. A ribbon of light coiled around her shoulders like a scarf, until it winked out with a forlorn sigh.

And then Elsa saw no more.

At first, she wasn't sure she'd actually woken up. Darkness pressed against her eyes. Her limbs felt like they weren't attached to her. She floated in nothingness. Then her hand brushed the floor, and hard object shifted, glass scraping against wood. She blinked. 

The black sphere she was encased in slowly melted into shapes, her eyes adjusting. A door with blurry paintings loomed sentry-like over her head. Triangular and dark, the windows were only slightly lighter than the black walls. She could make out the very edges of a statue closest to her. It took only a moment for her to recognize the antlers, and a surge of fear surged up without chains. It broke the spell of wonder she’d drowned in. She could feel her pulse in her palms, frost crackling across the floor from her body. Elsa fumbled for her phone, and the light blinded her harshly. She flinched back - but not before she caught a glimpse of the time.

Six hours. That couldn't be right.

Dread pooled in her stomach like acid, burning and nauseating. She didn't have service - she hadn’t had it since she stepped onto the fjord. There were no missed calls but she knew Anna had to be worried. Her phone was at 8%. A wheezing echoed about in the hall, which she realised was coming from herself. It was a stark contrast to the song and joy the rafters had held only hours before.

Elsa staggered to her feet, untangling herself from her sling bag. Her euchred knees nearly collapsed beneath her, forcing her to stumble and catch herself on the icy arm of the thickly bearded man strangling the antlered girl. The whole thing rumbled as it tilted dangerously to one side. She didn't wait to see it fall.

Her hyperventilating blocked out all sound, but she saw the siren’s light appear as a kaleidoscopic gleam through the ice. She was already running to the double doors she came in from. Nearly wrenching her shoulder from its socket in her haste, she left a spicate bouquet of ice on the handle. Her knees still felt tenuous. Like every step was a guess if she would keep going or fall to the floor. She didn’t look at the icy stalactites on the ceiling, or the rusted armor along the walls. 

The green light chased her footsteps as she booked it across the hall and squeezed through the small opening, her nails digging into the water-softened wood. Elsa didn't remember the gap being so thin, struggling to shift her hips through the opening. For a dizzying moment, she thought she was stuck. It scared her so badly she nearly blasted the door apart with her magic - but before she could, her foot slipped and she angled just right, flying out of the doorway and sloshing into pooled water. 

The fjord inclined delicately, plateauing just above her waist. Through flyaway strands of her pale hair, she saw the dark sky open up above her. A blanket of black contained only by the cold, unmoving behemoth of the glacier behind her. There was no moon that night. The stars gleamed like an arterial spray of silver on a blue/black ceiling.

She was reminded again of the hours she lost, the crisp night air growing tar-like as it slipped down her throat. Elsa grew frustrated by how fast her heart was beating; how her hands trembled and encircled her stomach to contain her panic. Fear was an unstoppable force, and she _ hated _ how easily it made her bend. On top of it all, she was frustrated that she'd left with no answers. Nothing to show for her adventure except the remnants of a strange dream, a few pictures, and a tidal wave of fear crawlings its way into her heart.

Her frustration was nothing to the very notion of what she could have lost if she'd never woken up.

In a fierce burst of blue, she froze a laughably small staircase up the incline she'd slid down before. Decisively jamming her posture back into place, Elsa resolved to be done here. She didn't need answers to a question she never asked. Whatever called her was wrong to do so. Elsa should just ignore it till it goes away, and continue living her life. Even...even if the siren's dance lingered at the edges of her mind like the embers of a dying hearth. Even if her magic and rampant curiosity still pulled her back towards the castle. She had to ignore it. Conceal it. Do whatever it took to keep herself (and the people in her life) safe.

Following voices wasn't being careful, and Anna needed her. They were the only family each other had left. 

She needed to be careful. For Anna.

Elsa rose the first step of her new staircase, and saw the siren's light in the reflection of the stairs. It wasn't below her, but behind her. Lingering in the doorway. Pale green pulsing in a weak beat. 

It called to her, the melody soft and low. Mourning. As if it knew her decision. 

Elsa gulped down the urge to cry. 

She took a step, then another, and another, until she was sprinting up the last few and across the ice. She leapt onto the winding pathway. She refused to look back. Wood clacked under her boots, chattering under each quick stride. With the stars reflecting in the ice on either side, she felt like she was running across the sky.

But there was no joy found in her departure.

She made it to the other side of the fjord, leaving behind the silent monolith of a world forgotten. She could see fluorescent red and blue lights flashing through the trees, anxious voices drifting from the crook of the road in front of the observatory. Someone was crying so loudly it echoed off the leaves.

Elsa, out of breath and cheeks damp with tears, pushed herself to make it over the snow dusted hill. Nival plants sprouted by her ankles, nearly tripping her as she pushed her exhausted body to the top and down the slithering path towards the observatory. The sobbing grew louder. Upon emerging from the forest, Elsa's heart wrenched itself out of place and dropped into her stomach.

Kristoff stood thirty feet from her, arguing with a policeman using animated hands while a massive Newfoundland dog sat at his feet with a sad slump to his shoulders. 

A few feet away from them, sat her sister. Anna was curled up in a tiny ball against the stone plaque of the observatory, soaked cheeks glowing in the police lights. She hadn't seen Elsa yet, clutching an emergency blanket around her shoulders. Her mouth was set agape in a wet gasp that lodged in her throat. Her turquoise eyes shimmered with unshed tears, closed off from Elsa as another heartbreaking wail tore itself from her throat.

Elsa's entire body felt like she'd been dipped in burning acid, shame sinking into her skin like a mark. She was moving before she even realised what she was doing, footsteps crunching over snow. She tasted iron at the back of her throat, tears blurring her vision as she stopped beside her sister.

"A-Anna."

Elsa nearly swallowed her tongue as Anna's gaze snapped to her. Her greenish-blue eyes widened, coughing out a wheeze as snot clogged her nose. She managed to squeeze out a small, disbelieving whisper of her name, child-like in its fearful tremor.

Elsa broke.

She dropped to her knees and threw herself into her sister, the events of the glacier and the past few weeks releasing itself in a low, keening whine. Anna froze as if she wasn't sure if it was real. But as Elsa's shoulders trembled with the force of her sobs, her hands gripping that stupid emergency blanket. Anna melted into the embrace with equal duress, nearly crushing Elsa to her.

There was a word for finding home after traumatic events, but Elsa couldn't remember it for the life of her. All she knew was the warmth of her sister as it opposed the hard, unforgiving ground her knees were subjected to. The solidarity of relief shared between them without words.

And eventually, she came to know the nudging of a cold, wet nose against her ear as Sven nearly headbutted her in excitement. The warmth of Kristoff's bear hug as he helped the sisters to their feet and promptly pulled Elsa in. She shivered all throughout the police's questions, unable to answer much. Or maybe she was unwilling. Her emotions were too high to sort out, numbly explaining that she'd slipped into a fissure and passed out.

For some reason, she didn't mention the door to the castle. 

Her shivering increased through the medics who checked her over, giving her a clean bill of health (minus the bruise on her head). She apologised softly to her professor, who seemed haggard and sleep deprived, but no less kind as he gave her a pass from class for the next few days.

Anna and Elsa rode home with Kristoff soon after - the last bus having left with the rest of the students four hours prior. Anna hadn't said much, but she refused to let go of Elsa's hand throughout the entire ride.

Sven panted happily from Elsa's other side, his big head pushing aggressively at her free hand for pets. She scratched behind his ear absently, staring out the window as they traveled further and further from the glacier. 

She had to look away when an aurora borealis slowly spread across the night sky, her stomach flipping unpleasantly. Thankfully they arrived at the dorms thirty minutes later. Kristoff put his car in park and twisted over the center console for a wordless exchange with his girlfriend. A moment passed, and Kristoff smiled gently in understanding. Anna relaxed, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to his lips. 

"I'll babysit Olaf tomorrow." Kristoff said with a gentle sigh, brown eyes crinkling at the corners. "You two hang out for as long as you need."

Elsa watched as Anna got out of the car, finally releasing her hand so Elsa could follow of her own volition. She swallowed hard, her eyes stinging again. She gave one last pat to Sven, scooting to Anna's side of the car and pausing.

"...Thank you, Kristoff." Elsa said in a strangled voice. Blinking furiously to keep the tears at bay. "I appreciate you taking care of her when...when I couldn't."

"Of course." Kristoff replied, drawing Elsa's eyes up to him. He gave a small smile. "No matter what happens, I'll always be there for her. And for you, if you need it."

Elsa sniffled softly, discreetly wiping her cheek. Her gratitude for him grew when he pretended not to see it, helping Sven haul his enormous body to the passenger seat. 

"I'll give her back to you soon," She said, wishing her tone could match humor she was trying to make.

"There's no rush." He said, patting Sven's side with a few solid thumps. "She needs this as much as you."

Finding herself speechless, Elsa could only nod and exit the car quietly. She watched as they drove off, very aware of Anna's quiet presence at her side. She let her sister take her hand again, gently squeezing.

"Where can I get a Kristoff?" Elsa asked, trying to lighten the mood. "Do they sell him at farming stores? Maybe among the flannels of Outdoor Bergen?”

That got a snort out of her, Anna's lips twitching up in a reluctant smile. She tugged them to the building. "Sorry, I think he's one of a kind. Limited edition."

"Hm. Boo." Elsa keyed in her code, the door unlocking and sliding to the side for them. "You'd think they'd make a set. One girl, one guy."

"Who is 'they'?" Anna giggled. 

The pair waited for the elevator to reach them, hands twined at their sides. 

Elsa shrugged, smiling gently. "The spirits in charge of love?"

The elevator dinged, and they shuffled in. Anna pressed the floor number, the doors closing with only mild protest.

"Two would be nice." Anna hummed, swinging their hands back and forth. "I'd probably keep them both for myself."

Elsa gave a small gasp, smiling despite herself as she gently whacked Anna's arm. "Who said you could steal all the good people? Leave some for us poor singles."

Anna's laugh was pure joy in their quiet sphere. "Too late! I'm starting a hoard."

"A dragon if I've ever seen one." Elsa grinned, the elevator dinging once more. 

The quiet was warmer when they headed down the hall to Elsa’s room. She felt for her keys in her bag, brushing against something cool and smooth. She paused, her fingers wrapping around the object curiously. She pulled it free as Anna leaned into her side, mumbling. “I could sleep for a week.” 

Frost started to spread rapidly out from Elsa’s toes, crawling up the edges of her door frame. There was a buzzing in her ears, drowning out Anna’s confused, then worried questions.

The diamond shaped ice in her palm had completely killed her peace. 

She only snapped out of it when Anna shouted her name, shaking her shoulders furiously. Lost blue eyes flicked up and met with her sister's. She was quite clearly trying not to cry again, her lower lip trembling.

“_ What _ is happening to you?” She asked desperately.

Elsa swallowed dryly, her grip tightening around the diamond of unmelting ice. She shoved it back in her bag, pulling her keys free.

“It’s late.” She said shakily, trying to fit the key in the hole as her hands trembled out of her control. The key kept jamming from small spires of ice sprouting along the metal. “W-we should get some rest.”

There was a small sniffle from behind her. 

“Elsa why are you shutting me out?” Anna asked, messy tears spilling down her face. “You promised you wouldn’t do this to me again.”

Elsa blinked furiously against the warmth rising behind her eyes. She squeezed them shut, her breath shuddering from her body in a single, world shaking sigh.

"I...Okay.” She said in defeat. “Okay. You're right. I’ll - c-can you open the door? I don't… I don't want to have this conversation in the hallway."


	6. if i follow you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI I'M ALIVE!! Super stressed but alive!! I haven't written a word in like three months and then the past two days all of my pent up words just spilled out lol 
> 
> Thank you for your patience guys - I had to split this chapter into two because it got super long, so good news is there's already more written! I'm the worst about keeping up with chapters and stuff tho, so if there's another huge gap between chapters... blame quarantine lol
> 
> As always comments and kudos are very much appreciated, and please stay safe during these wack-ass times! Wash your hands, practice social distancing which is just a fancy term for practicing introversion <3

* * *

Anna led the way inside as Elsa trailed behind. She fidgeted nervously, yellow lamplight creeping along her bedroom floor in thin strips from the parted curtains. Her sister flicked on the lights, and the shadows retreated into a friendlier visage. 

Bruni slept peacefully atop his favorite ice sculpture at the foot of her bed. The bookshelf next to the bathroom remained neatly stacked with ice statues Anna had begged her to display, neatly blocking in the textbooks she hadn’t touched since her parents passed. The large bed with its sky blue covers was still a little ruffled from her hasty departure that morning. Otherwise, everything was in its place. 

Elsa took what comfort she could out of it as the sisters glanced at each other, Anna’s eyebrows drawn together in a portrait of concern. It took a moment for her to see how Anna’s seafoam eyes were bruised and ringed in red. Elsa felt her nerve start to slip, her body curling in on itself with dread. 

Anna's expression grew contemplative. “Hey. I know it’s been...a really long day. For both of us. I know I asked but - Do you think - I mean.” She did a weird foot shuffle. “Can talking wait till tomorrow?”

“Yes.” Elsa said a little too quickly. Her cheeks flushed self-consciously, but she reached out and squeezed Anna’s hand, torn between feeling grateful and worried. “But...I don’t want you to think I’m avoiding this conversation again. I  _ want _ to tell you. I do. I just -”

“Breathe, Elsa.” Anna smiled warmly. “I know. We can still talk if you’re up for it - but I also think it’d be better for both of us if we slept first.”

Elsa ducked her head, swallowing down exhausted tears. “It...you’ll be okay if we wait?” She asked in a small voice. 

Anna huffed and pulled her into a tight hug. “Of course I’ll be okay, dummy. You’re still here, right?”

Elsa’s voice was muffled by the fabric of Anna’s shirt. “Yeah.”

“Then I’ll be fine.”

They got ready for bed in much lighter spirits. Elsa changed into her softest pajamas that Anna had given her for jol last year; a water-like silk dress colored a deep maroon and scattered with blue snowflakes along the curve of her hips. Anna changed into a spare set of pjs she’d left at Elsa’s from their last movie night, pale green and yellow diamonds scattered over the cozy thick fabric. 

Anna dug out the spare pillows and blankets she kept under her bed as Elsa disappeared to brush her teeth. Standing in front of the sink and adjoining mirror, she caught sight of her reflection for the first time in twelve hours. 

Her hair was a mess. Platinum blonde bangs spiked up more than normal. Her braid was slowly unwinding itself. A bright red cut streaked across her cheekbone, though her tears had washed most of the blood away. It certainly wasn't the worst she could be, but still. The stain of adventure was haggard and stark across her features. 

It hit her like an epiphany, the events of the past day. 

Confusion, anger, sadness, wonder. It all crashed into her like cymbals at the end of a symphony. She didn't even feel the sting of salt in her cut as tears dripped more lines down her face.

Hands shaking as if her toothbrush weighed like iron, Elsa narrowly missed the bristles, vibrant blue toothpaste plopping joylessly onto the edge of the sink. She felt more like a toddler with each second as her breath started to hiccup and her lower lip wobbled. She bravely fought back a full blown sob.

But the resulting gasp drew Anna into the doorway, who then ushered her to bed with a gentle touch. Elsa valiantly managed to keep it together for about five more feet. Sobs cracked free from her lips as her butt hit the mattress, and Anna dragged her into a warm embrace. 

She couldn't help the sounds exorcising from her chest, eyes screwed shut so tightly that she knew they'd be bruised in the morning. She cried for making Anna worry. She cried for losing Honeymaren's jacket. She cried for the hollowed, empty castle in the glacier. The statues of memories she left behind.

And she cried for the light she abandoned. The lonely spirit calling to her from the aurora. 

Anna's pajamas were soaked with her tears, but she didn't seem to mind. She just held on, and hummed a lullaby until Elsa's hitching sobs dissolved into hiccups, and sleep pulled at her eyelids. Her messy thoughts began to fade, tilting precariously over into a dreamless, deep slumber. She heard Anna singing distantly, echoing and quiet.

_ "In her waters… light lives through… lie my answers, and a path for you...” _

It could be argued that Elsa was hit with a vague feeling of misplacement. So close to the pocket of sleep, it was hard for her to tell when gravity shifted three degrees to the left. She didn't know for sure if the world had tilted a little, or if the sky wasn’t directly above her anymore. The experience was akin to driving over a sudden dip in the road. Her stomach rose up to her throat and sat there. For a suspended moment, an abyss yawned beneath her as she realised:

_ Those lyrics were wrong. _

And Anna’s voice drifted farther away, as if she was aboard a boat rocking towards the horizon. Sound stretched to the very thinnest wave, almost forgotten in its form.

_ “Dive down deep into her sound...but not too far, or you'll be drowned…" _

And Elsa felt the earth rock back onto its feet. Anna’s voice snapped back into close range, soft and crooning above Elsa’s hazy mind. She became overly aware of her heart thumping thickly in her chest. Fingers brushed through her bangs. They trailed lightly over her forehead and pressed along the bridge of her nose. Elsa hummed softly, unwilling to think anymore of it.

She dropped off the edge of the abyss, and fell into the deepest sleep she'd had in weeks. 

There was nothing for her to dream that night. No voice to call her awake. Just the listless emptiness of rest, and a warm body close enough to reach. 

She awoke hours later with only a vague memory of her pre-sleep experience, her body curled towards Anna. Her head felt heavy, her mouth and tongue unpleasantly fuzzy. She groaned as she rose onto her elbow, a palm pressing into her left eye. Her muddled mind tried to make sense of what woke her, already tuning out the heavy snores of her sister beside her. 

She shifted her knees, and out came a small indignant chirp by her foot. Elsa glanced down. 

Bruni had gotten out of his cage again, his little body curled up in the arch of her foot. His body radiated a pleasant pulse of warmth by her toes. Bright rays of cloud-filtered sunlight streamed through her curtains, illuminating her room in melancholy shades of gray and white. 

A jaw-cracking yawn escaped her as Bruni scuttled up her leg and to her shoulder. He rubbed his cheek against hers in greeting, prompting a tired giggle. She gave him a little rub under his chin as her sister stirred beside her.

Anna's mouth was open and wet with drool, her body askew in what should have been the most uncomfortable position ever, and yet she remained boneless and sprawled out on the mattress. Bruni tittered a laugh by Elsa’s ear, but the two of them froze as a monstrous snore suddenly erupted from the depths of Anna’s throat. 

It practically shook the bedframe with its volume, and Anna suddenly jolted awake. 

"No not the chocolate sauce-!" She cried, a copper braid wrapped around her forehead in the frantic scramble to sit up.

Elsa clapped a hand over her mouth, but she wasn’t quick enough to catch the burst of laughter that slipped through her fingers. Anna, with her mouth still passively ajar and one eye already starting to close again, did not look amused. She dramatically draped herself over Elsa’s lap. 

"It’s too early for you to be making fun of me. It’s against the sister code.” Anna grumbled, her spine bowing awkwardly over Elsa’s legs.

“But you make it so easy,” Elsa giggled, poking Anna’s button nose. “I can’t imagine how Kristoff keeps his composure.”

Her sister sniffed daintily, shooing away Elsa’s hand and wiping her mouth of drool. “Practice, mostly. I think he acclimated just for survival.”

“What a man.” Elsa deadpanned.

She gently pushed Anna off her legs and stretched out her long limbs with a groan. The muscles in her legs and back twinge in protest, reminding her all too well of the strain her body had been under the just day before. Bruni’s gentle heat was a welcome reprieve on her aching shoulders, seeping in and loosening the knots a bit. She relaxed gratefully with a soft sigh.

“How’re you feeling, by the way?” Anna asked.

She'd sat up and crossed her legs, not even blinking at the little blue salamander perched on Elsa’s shoulder.

“Sore.” Elsa replied, rolling her stiff neck to the side with a grimace.

“But better than last night?”

“Better, definitely.” Elsa smiled.

“Good...”

She ran a hand through her wild bangs, trying to subdue them as best she could with just her hands and particles of frost. Anna watched her expectantly, and something stone-like dropped into Elsa's stomach. Elsa's heart started tripping in its rhythm. Clearly she was meant to start the conversation early.

She stalled as the quiet stretched on between them, trying not to look at the elephant in the room. Cleverly disguised as a simple canvas bag, mocking her from its lazy spot by the door. Some of the events from the day before felt more like a dream. She was half convinced the icy diamond would be gone if she looked inside it.

"Soooo…" Anna drawled awkwardly, shoulders rising and falling in a wave. "Are we gonna talk about that thing now, or later?"

Not a single bone in Elsa's body wanted any part of this conversation. 

The strangest thing about it wasn't her reluctance, or the idea of seeming crazy to her sister. No, there was something much larger weighing on her mind and heart, hanging from them like weighted lures. 

Guilt.

The voice had called to her, and her alone. It chose to sing to her. Why it called to her, Elsa didn't think she'd ever know, and...maybe she was never meant to know. Magic worked in mysterious ways. It still didn't change the fact that talking about the voice to her younger sister - even if said sister was her confidante - felt a lot like telling a secret that wasn't hers to tell.

Nevertheless, the siren wasn't there to screech at her to stay quiet. So she steeled her nerves, and gently placed Bruni back in his cage. She stared at him and focused on breathing.

Open mind, open heart.

"I've been hearing a voice." She said suddenly, turning to Anna. "It's been keeping me awake for what seems like months."

Anna blinked as if surprised, but her silence remained. Elsa plowed on, fidgeting with her fingers.

"Whatever dreams I have are dark and - and cold. I can't breathe or move. It's…" Elsa shuddered. "It's horrible."

Anna immediately reached out and took her hand. Elsa grasped on tight, grounding herself. The words came a bit easier, spilling between her teeth.

"The voice was in my dreams too, I think. It would sing me awake - though sometimes it felt more like a scream. I'd wake up nauseous, disoriented. Sad. And the day would go on like normal - but lately things keep happening when I hear it. Like the aurora a few days ago."

"You did seem scared.." Anna mumbled absently, her hand dropping back into her lap as Elsa pulled away. Seafoam green eyes slid side to side as they followed Elsa's path across the room and back.

"When I'm awake it's always a faint echo, but sometimes it sounds...closer." She gave a sudden huff of irritation. "Calling me from somewhere I can’t see. Always from someplace I can't see. Then yesterday it was the loudest its ever been and I even -"

She stopped short, dress swishing about her ankles. Her gaze caught on the bag nervously. The crystal inside felt like it was sitting in Elsa's chest rather than the canvas. A cold, sharp presence that lodged itself in her sternum. Anna followed her line of sight curiously. The air rattled in her chest.

Elsa whispered, "I think I may have done something I wasn't supposed to do."

Anna's attention snapped back to her. "What do you mean?"

Elsa winced, her arms creeping across her stomach to hold herself. "I...might have followed the voice into the castle which…also made me pass out inside it.”

Anna’s jaw dropped open, Elsa could practically hear the alarm bells ringing in her ears. She was quick to speak. “Anna I know what you're going to say -"

"Elsa you nearly  _ died! _ " Anna cried, tugging on her twin braids. "What were you thinking??”

“I -”

“What if you never woke up? How long would it have taken us to find you??”

“The spirit didn't hurt me!”

“But it did something to make you pass out! You were unconscious for  _ six hours _ . If you didn't have your powers, you would've died of hypothermia!” Anna rocked to her feet, hands clenched into fists at her sides as she bit her lip to keep it from shaking. “And that's another thing! You’ve been hearing this voice for  _ weeks _ and only now - after you almost  _ died _ \- do you come and talk to me about it!?”

"I  _ know _ the voice is good," Elsa said quietly, trying not to succumb to the cold dread building in her lungs. She was oddly protective of the voice, despite how absolutely dismal she felt about confrontation with her sister.

"Good?? Elsa this thing nearly made me lose you - what  _ good _ could that possibly be?"

"You can't hear it like I can, Anna! My magic can sense its intentions.  _ I  _ can sense its intentions. They  _ are _ good. Just… maybe a bit vague." 

Breathing heavily after her tirade, Anna turned her cheek to her, her lips pursed and pouting. 

Elsa took a few gulps of air, biting back warm tears building behind her eyes. They stood only a few feet apart, but it could have been kilometers with how low the mood had dropped.

Finally, Elsa sucked up the courage to reach over, frosty fingers gently cradling Anna’s wrist. Her sister shivered, but let her lace their fingers together. 

Elsa’s voice was barely above a whisper. "Hey. Look at me."

Anna sniffed, reluctantly glancing over. Elsa gave a gentle, shaky smile. "There you are.”

Anna’s lower lip wobbled precariously, but she managed to mumble clearly enough. “...I hate fighting with you.”

“I know.”

“I’m really mad at you.”

“I know.”

“I thought you died yesterday. Do you understand that?”

Elsa swallowed hard, barely able to croak out a, 'Yes.’

Anna squeezed her hand so hard it hurt, her eyes locking onto her deeply. “Never again. I mean it, Elsa. I can’t lose you. I need you to promise me.”

She nodded quickly, mouth as dry as a desert. “...I promise.”

Anna nodded sharply, sniffing ungracefully as a few residual tears slipped free. Elsa wanted nothing more than to pull her into a hug, but she knew she needed to wait. Anna swiped at her runny nose with her pajama sleeve, blinking hard. 

Elsa started to speak again. “Look, I know I haven't been...the safest, recently. But I promise you, I'm not doing it on purpose. I'm just...trying to understand what's going on with me."

Anna frowned down at their joined hands, but she slowly squeezed until her freckled knuckles turned pale. She kept her eyes down as she said gently, "Well the voice definitely wants you to figure it out for yourself."

“...Why do you say that?” 

“You said it doesn't have words, but you still understand its intentions. Why else would you be hearing it? I bet no one else can listen and understand it like you.”

“No one else has magic powers, either.” Elsa muttered.

Anna snorted, swinging their hands lightly. “Yeah...that too.”

The storm inside her calmed at the gesture, and Elsa let out the breath she'd been holding. Her toes stuck a bit to the floor as she shuffled closer to her sister, frosty footprints following in their wake. 

"I'm sorry I scared you." Elsa said, bumping their shoulders together. "I promise I'll be careful in the future."

"Will you tell me, next time?" Anna asked quietly, glancing up at her. "When you go off and do something crazy?"

Elsa felt a sudden, hollow pang of guilt echo through her chest. Hollow, like she should have known where it came from, but couldn't place the origin. It disturbed her.

She shook it off and nodded, determined not to dwell on it while in her high emotional state. "I will."

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear." Their fingers were already locked together as they held hands, so they just squeezed each other as a reminder.

Anna relaxed into Elsa's side, grumbling. "We just woke up but I feel like I already need a nap."

Elsa let out a laugh, agreeing silently. She reluctantly let go of Anna's hand, fortifying her courage for what she needed to do next.

"There's...a little more." Elsa began hesitantly, giving her sister a cautious look. "But you have to let me explain before you say anything, okay?"

Anna blinked, and abruptly made her way back to the bed, sitting on the edge. 

She gestured for Elsa to continue. "I feel like I'm gonna need to sit down for this part."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I have a ko-fi now! I write poetry mainly, but everything there is free to read so feel free to check it out!  
https://ko-fi.com/ddullahan


	7. some look for trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone who commented and gave kudos on the past few chapters! I struggled so hard with this chapter, cause info dumps are SO hard to make interesting >< I hope I did a decent job lol 
> 
> How are all of y'all doin?? I'm doing my best to stay inside and keeping six feet apart if I go to the store, but jeez. The world is changing so fast you guys. It's so scary, and thrilling, and mind-boggling. The only thing that's certain right now is that we aren't alone in this. We're all inside together, connected by the internet! So if you're an introvert craving a bit of social interaction, this is the perfect time to talk to people!! And if you're an extrovert, I'm so sorry. JK we're here for you too! Lolol you know what they say, a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet!
> 
> Anyway, my point is, I hope the fact that you clicked on this fanfic and you're this far in means that you're here to stay, cause we could all use a little company right now. And I hope my strange little world is fascinating enough to lose yourself in. Forget about things for a while. Let's go on an adventure!
> 
> I love you guys and I wanna hear how your days are, so feel free to comment on here or scream at me on my new tumblr @ddullahan <3  
As always comments and kudos are the waters that mist my crops and keep me going when shit hits the fan.

* * *

Elsa’s focus slid to the elephant in the room. The canvas bag sat innocently where she'd left it the night before. As if it didn't have a secret to unlock within it. As if it didn't upheave Elsa's life by merely existing. 

Perhaps if there had been nothing of merit within its canvas confines, she wouldn't be as conflicted as she was. She could only ignore the call of adventure for so long.

With a sassy huff Elsa grabbed it before she could change her mind, dumping its contents out on the floor as if it had offended her. Scattered were the remnants of her notebooks and pencils, all soaked through from her slip into the water outside the castle. She momentarily mourned for the notes she'd have to copy from someone later. 

Anna leaned forward, her focus catching on, not one strange ice crystal, but four. 

"Four?" Elsa muttered, brow furrowing. "How did I get four of them in my bag?"

"What are they?" Anna asked, eyes wide. "They look like something you made, but…"

"I did make them. I think." Elsa ran a hand through her bangs, frowning. She supposed that was a good place to start the rest of her story. "The voice - siren - whatever it is, it led me to a ballroom of some kind. We…” She couldn’t help but think back to the moment she stepped foot into the hall, a tingle starting at the base of her spine and making her shiver. “We danced, and sang together. It was drawn to my magic, and...I was…” 

She shook her head, biting her lower lip guiltily. “I... was drawn to it, too. It lead me to the back of the hall and there was this... odd glass, o-or maybe it was ice, coating a diamond at the top of a throne. I-I don’t really know what I was doing; the siren was singing and it was so...captivating. I didn’t even realize I’d touched it until the siren went silent."

“Everything just...stopped. I turned around and the entire room was filled with those things.” She pointed to the four diamonds scattered on the floor. A part of her niggled at the back of her mind, urging her to pick them up, but she ignored it stubbornly to continue her story. “They hung in the hall, no strings. No wires. Just… floating stillness."

Anna shivered. "Creepy.."

"The rest of the room was filled with these strange...statues of ice. All of them frozen in moments of time. I didn't recognize anyone, and I had this...this _ horrible _headache. I reached the back of the ballroom, and the pain grew so great I-I… I fell and passed out." She dragged out her words, squinting as she struggled to catch her memories. "I remember... a dream."

"A dream?"

Elsa nodded, looking up at Anna. Bruni had scuttled to the edge of his enclosure, big eyes wide and staring through the glass. 

"I had this...strange dream of a girl wrapped in furs… walking in a thick wood. It was so odd, I felt like ...like I _ was _ her.”

“Who was she?” Anna asked, frowning.

Elsa shrugged helplessly. “I wasn’t anything more than an observer. I couldn’t see into her mind or anything like that. Although...we did hear fighting in the distance. The girl started talking to someone I couldn't see… And suddenly the same melody that has been calling to me seemed to call for_ her _ ." Elsa's words grew faster, more rushed. "She had to have magic because one moment she was there, and the next she was gone. I felt this _ burning _ in my body - which feels _ very _strange when you don’t have a real body - but this burning when she left, it was so harsh I almost woke up."

Anna stroked her chin, humming thoughtfully. She snapped her fingers. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Elsa affirmed, thinking about it. "Probably even faster, if I'm being honest. There was this flash of light, and the northern lights just exploded across the sky. Time seemed to move faster, and a mist covered the forest. Thicker and darker than I've ever seen before. It rushed through the trees and swallowed me in it - and then I woke up."

"...I'm gonna be honest. That's a lot to unpack."

Elsa huffed a laugh and made her way to the crystals, moving as if guided by an invisible hand. She bent down absently to pick up the crystals. "I figured."

She gathered them in her palms, flinching at the surprisingly sharp edges digging into her hands. Her attention remained on Anna for the most part, heading over to her and Bruni’s cage. "They each have a symbol on them, I'm not sure what they mean."

"I don't think I'd be much help there, but uhhh… Elsa? Is that thing supposed to be glowing?"

Elsa glanced down to her palms, a gasp pulling sharply from her chest. One of the diamonds of ice seemed to be pulsing with soft purple light, casting jeweled colors across Elsa’s palm. 

Suddenly hit with the memory of the lights in the castle and the magic she'd danced with, Elsa flung it and the others to the floor with a yelp, hopping away from it as if it'd sprout wings and fly at her. Anna screeched as it bounced near her foot, alarmed by her sister's knee-jerk reaction and jumping further into the bed to escape it. 

"Wh-what is it??"

"Sorry! Sorry! I-I don't know!" Elsa gripped at her tangled braid, breaths siphoning from her lungs in a rapid rhythm. "It startled me, I'm sorry -"

"Is that the spirit thing??" Anna asked, her voice clipping two octaves higher than normal, hiding behind a big blue pillow.

"H-how should I know?!" Elsa cried, backing away until she was standing with Bruni's cage between herself and the crystal.

"I dunno, you're the one with the weird connection to it! Can't you, like, sense it??"

Elsa bit her lower lip hard enough to sting, the light casted about her walls in pastel fractals of violet, amethyst, and magenta. It didn't move the way she'd seen in the castle - in fact, it barely fluctuated, or moved, at all. It pulsed slow and steady like the beating of tides against the shore. Once she focused on her magic, she knew it _ felt _different too. It was less alive than before.

For some reason, the realisation made her sad.

Elsa waited. And waited. Staring at the diamond, waiting for the song to erupt around her. In the pause, Bruni had leapt out of his tank and balanced himself precariously on the edge. He stared at the crystal, transfixed, and the longer she waited, the more foolish she started to feel.

Bruni glanced back at her, tilting his head and clicking at her curiously. Anna also leaned over the pillow trapped against her chest, frowning at her.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked.

"I, um." Elsa sighed heavily, unsettled. "...I'm waiting for the light to move. I thought it was um… the voice that called me to the glacier. But…" 

She hesitantly stretched her hand out and let a burst of magic arc out from her palm. The light continued to pulse, never missing a beat as it sat innocently near the far left wall of her dorm room. "I can't feel its magic. I don't think it's actually here."

Bruni chirped in agreement, tilting his head and doing a few excited pushups from the top of his enclosure. Elsa took a cautious step towards him, peaking over the edge. Its light was weaker with distance, faintly pulsing in an eerie quiet. The others remained dormant, but their silence and diluted presence did nothing to ease the heavy atmosphere. All of them as small as her palm, but still carrying the presence of a monolith.

Elsa moved around the tank and reached for Bruni to crawl onto her. He clicked a few times, leaning up to receive her touch - only to suddenly recoil away, squinting suspiciously at her hand. She stopped, her hand hovering just above him. He sniffed at her fingers, a shudder twitching through his tiny body. Elsa tilted her head curiously as his pupils constricted into long slits of black. 

“What is it..?” She murmured worriedly, flipping her hand palm up so he could see she had nothing. Bruni shuddered again, blinking a few times before turning to look at the crystal with a kind of unsettling stillness. Elsa and Anna exchanged baffled glances. 

Neither sister was prepared for Bruni to burst into deep purple flames. He bounced from his enclosure to the crystal, and Elsa tried to grab him too late. 

The salamander landed in a violent burst of light and heat that washed over the entire room. Flames dark as velvet crawled up the walls, spreading to her books and encompassing the room in roaming licks of purple fiery tongues. Anna shrieked from the bed, spurring Elsa into action.

"Bruni!" She cried, magic flashing across the floor in a brilliant blue cascade across the speeding fire. 

She hit a line of them as they rolled across the ceiling, steam filling the room. Anna coughed and Elsa built an icy dome around Anna with a flick of her wrist. Her sister's yelp was muffled by at least five inches of ice. 

Elsa was determined now, marching over to Bruni and the glowing ice, dousing any flames that dared to cross her path. She finally got rid of enough to see her pet fire salamander on top of the crystal, the reflective shine of ice glowing just as bright as the fire, perhaps even more so.

He glanced up, pupils still slitted and swallowed by an electric bright blue iris. Elsa reigned in her anger, sending another spray of ice to smother the flames nearby and kneeling next to him. 

"What are you doing little guy?" She asked quietly, trying to keep her voice calm as the walls burned and burned. The details of her room became smudged from the smoke gathering. Elsa wondered if her fire alarm even worked.

Bruni chittered at her as if trying to explain his behavior, spikes of fire bursting from the purple stripe on his back.

Elsa frowned, frustrated. "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

He glanced up at Elsa, innocent and searching. Elsa couldn't tell if she was getting lightheaded from the smoke, or from the sudden wave of deja vu that hit her like a train. The salamander stood partially on a crystal as one of his sticky paws reached out and placed itself into the hollow carving.

All at once, those fires collapsed in on themselves. In a burst of sparks, flames slithered off her bookshelves and bed frame, coiling across the floor over and under Elsa in perfect straight lines. She scrambled away to watch the burning tendrils meet ice. To her immense surprise, the fire seemed to sink into the diamond under Bruni till it grew brighter and brighter -

And suddenly, Elsa found herself blind from an unexpected flash. She fell back onto her butt, hands scrambling to rub at her eyes because _ ow _ -

But all had gone quiet once more.

Elsa blinked the last of the stars from her vision, and glanced over at her salamander. The little blue devil had scuttled over to her foot, bobbing his head up and down excitedly. She sat up, coughing as smoke lingered in her face. “What did you d-do, Bruni?”

He chirped happily, leaping onto her stomach and crawling up to her shoulder. His body wiggled and settled into the crook of her shoulder, letting out soft clicks of contentment only a being truly satisfied with themselves could make.

“Elsa? Can you let me out?” Came Anna’s miffed call, followed by a rapping of her knuckles against the ice.

With an absent wave of her hand, the dome scattered into flurries, creating a thin layer of ashy snowflakes all over her floor and bed. She didn’t even notice as she shuffled over to the diamond.

Its hue had changed from a cool pale blue to a vibrant, deeply purple amethyst. More like a jewel than ice, now. The symbol even seemed darker in some places. If Elsa squinted, she could see flames licking along the edges.

"Whoa… did Bruni do that?" 

Anna's sudden voice over her shoulder startled her into nearly dropping it. She quickly held it to her pounding chest, guilt twisting unexpectedly as if she was hiding a secret. The grace ingrained in her from childhood took over, forcing her to rise, cradling the piece in her pale hands. Anna held the other three, all of them intact despite being thrown around and nearly melted.

"He did something to it." Elsa said, holding it out so Anna could see it. "I'm just...not sure _ why _."

Anna hummed thoughtfully, tilting her head at the crystal. "That symbol reminds me of this story father told us once. The one about the spirits of the forest."

A slight ache blossomed at the front of her forehead, forcing Elsa to squint. She rubbed at it absently, murmuring, "Forest? What forest?"

"The forest behind grandfather's estate surrounding the lake. Remember?"

The pounding subsided, and she blinked slow. "R..right… You fell in the water that one winter." 

"Of course that's the thing you remember." Anna huffed, the ice diamonds in her arms clinking as she made a dramatic show of slumping her shoulders. 

"Sorry, I know you had a hard time after that." Elsa said gently, taking the crystals off of her hands and walking to the bed. She laid them out on the ruffled comforter, Anna joining at her side. "Tell me the story of the forest. I don't remember it at all."

Anna grinned, her voice dramatically dropping into 'movie theater mode'. "Long ago... as far north as we can go, stood a very magical, very enchanted forest."

Elsa snorted, "Don't give me the trailer version."

"Aww," Anna laughed, "I was gonna make it so good too."

"I'm here for facts, and facts only."

Anna nudged her with her elbow, grinning as she put on a strange accent. "Fresh out of facts miss, can I interest you in some tall tales instead?"

Elsa latched onto the distraction like a woman possessed, pretending to think. Bruni matched her contemplative look as she rested her hip against the foot of the bed. "Hmm… perhaps. Do you happen to have any bedtime stories?

Anna’s eyes twinkled. "Olaf took all of them last week."

"Fables?"

"Aesop cleaned me out."

"Trilogies?"

_ "Don't go gettin' too far ahead, Mr. Frodo." _

"Mythology?"

Anna snorted. "Exaggerated history."

"How about legends?"

"Random events told to a bar full of men."

Elsa could barely contain her giggles as they went back and forth, the tight knot of stress balled in her chest only just starting to loosen. Anna's smile was blinding, her rapid fire responses prompting her own stifled giggles.

They both had to take a moment to compose themselves, Elsa delicately sitting at the foot of her bed and smoothing out her silk dress over her knees. Anna decided to stay standing, humming as their moment subsided. She brushed her fingertips over the crystals curiously.

"Father once told me this story of a time when magic was in everything." Anna began, her voice taking on a low timber. "The plants, a breeze, the night sky, life. It all flowed from one end of the world to the other without pause. But as time went by, some places grew more magical than others, like how water pools into marks in the earth. These pockets of magic became greatly desired by some humans, and in order to protect them, they had strange beings who were trusted with their power. Earth, air, fire, and water were among the most powerful to emerge. Regular humans revered them as spirits, and these spirits would guard the magic areas from people who wished to abuse the land."

"Are you sure father told you all of this?" Elsa asked incredulously, "This doesn't sound anything like one of his fairytales."

"Shush, let me finish!" Anna said hastily, rearranging the crystals in random combinations as if her hands had their own mind. 

Elsa sighed, but resigned herself to listening. She took the blue pillow Anna had hid behind, hugging it to her chest as she settled in. Anna double-checked to make sure she was ready, and continued.

"Alongside the spirits lived a tribe of people who only wished for harmony in nature. They were granted with great fortune and gifts, as they were the shepherds of peace between magic and humans. In gratitude for their peace-keeping, every hundred years the great spirits would choose a human from that tribe to wield a piece of their power. To help them guard what magic is left in the world."

"Why every hundred years?" Elsa asked, her blue eyes wide.

Anna shrugged, "Dunno. Papa didn't explain that part."

"Hm. Is there more to the story?"

"Mmm not that I can remember. I think he had a train or boat to catch."

Elsa frowned, finding herself with a drop of disappointment in her stomach. She scooted closer to the crystals, looking at Anna's arrangement of them. The one on Anna's far left had a symbol that resembled a flower; two lines bisected from one, arcing out to the edges and three dots rising from the apex. The second was placed higher, and the vibrant amethyst color seemed especially prismatic as it sat in the line of light beaming from her semi-parted curtains. Its symbol was as simple as a diamond carved into its face, but Elsa could feel the hum of heat and power like it was an extension of herself. 

The next was a normal, glossy cold blue hue that her ice creations often took. She ran her fingertips over the teardrop carving, thumb grazing the inside curve carefully before she moved on to the next one. Several circles dotted the smooth blue face, hanging above a horizontal line and upside down triangle that created a semblance of a border.

"So...you think these things are from the spirits, if they're real?"

Anna nodded vigorously, pointing to each one from her left to right. 

"Air, fire, water, and earth." She said plainly.

"Fire…" She glanced at Bruni on her shoulder. He cocked his head at her curiously.

Elsa started to feel a bit uneasy. "Soo… do you…" She glanced at Anna helplessly. "...Do you think Bruni is a spirit?"

"Well he's gotta be _ something _. People don't just have powers by accident."

Elsa curled a bit more around the pillow still clutched to her chest, her mouth suddenly very dry. Her magic hummed through her body like a living thing - it was something she'd had to get accustomed to. When she was younger it was a source of comfort. A piece of her she could never live without. Then as time went on and life kept throwing her forward before she was ready, somewhere along the line she grew to fear it. At times she hated it, but it was like trying to swim against the current of an unrelenting river. She could never control it with a heavy hand.

Thankfully she'd been brought back into stasis with it. The past few years had been a transitional period from fear to acceptance, and Elsa _ finally _ thought she was okay. 

And then the voice appeared.

And now Elsa's magic was trying to pull her towards something new again.

"What're you thinking about?" Anna asked softly, sitting beside her sister. 

The dip in the bed caused the neatly arranged crystals to slide into Anna's hip, which she took and replaced them patiently as Elsa tried to find the words to respond.

"...I'm not sure if I'm ready for whatever...this is." Elsa said carefully, waving her wrist at the icy shapes. "We're in a good place now, right? Everything from the last few years has finally died down and I - I don't know if I'm… I don't want to uproot our lives again, Anna."

Her sister smiled, gently pulling her into her side and hugging her. "Hey, part of that was also my fault. I pushed you too hard."

Elsa shook her head with a small smile. "But you didn't freeze three countries, did you?"

Anna winced, drawing out her words slowly. "Noooo… but uh, I did kind of wreck a few places on my way to find you!" 

At Elsa's derivative snort, Anna rolled her eyes. "Okay okay, _ yes _ the last time we dealt with magic stuff, it was a disaster. But now we're older! And this thing?" She held up the purple crystal, gently pressing it into Elsa's palm. 

Her magic hummed like building static at the touch, a sharp thrill spiking through her body like electricity. The warmth radiating from it seeped into her skin, spreading throughout her normally cold body. She exhaled shakily.

"This is bigger than both of us." Anna said gently. "Even I can feel it, and I'm not magical at all. If you want to ignore it, I'll support you. If you want to pursue it, I'll also support you. You’ll always have me here if things go wrong."

Elsa blinked the heat building behind her eyes, swallowing hard. She nodded slowly, her lungs shuddering on an inhale as she wrapped her fingers around the crystal.

Bruni scampered down her arm and stood proudly on top of her fist, his eyes wide and bright. Elsa smiled a little, raising him to eye level. 

"Are you going to help me too?" She asked playfully.

The salamander promptly licked his eyeball.

"I'll take that as a yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHAMELESS PLUG! If you like my stuff, feel free to take a gander at my poems and stuff on Ko-Fi :D  
https://ko-fi.com/ddullahan


	8. some look for trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive!!! Barely, but I'm here lmao Hi guys! I know its been a hot second but y'know. COVID. I hope everyone's been safe and wearing masks, and make sure to take care of yourselves!
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to user Ravrav because their comments literally fueled me to finish this chapter that's been sitting in my google docs for two month lol YOU'RE THE BEST!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated! Don't forget to love each other!

* * *

Anna was quick to stow away the crystals soon after, claiming that magical quests could start after they’ve had a sister day, and by no means was Elsa going to protest. She wanted nothing more than to forget things for a while, and Anna, a saint of flesh and bone, promised pillow forts and board games,  _ with  _ snacks.

They spent the entire day inside, building her room into a massive pillowfort and trying not to break the pieces of Elsa’s beautifully carved  _ tablut _ set. She hadn't touched it in what seemed like decades, and Anna had to teach her the rules again. It was easy to catch on once Elsa started to think of it as backwards chess with all rooks. On their fifth game and Elsa’s fourth win, Anna got creative and started naming her pieces, coming up with avant-garde rules based on their personalities. Elsa loved it, though she was much more hesitant to break the rules herself. 

The night was everything she needed to reset, and she let Anna leave the next morning with a promise to meet up again for breakfast at Oaken's in a few days. As she waved the rumbling car away, Sven's massive head dangling out the window with a wide toothy grin, her heart was full and her mind was set.

She had some research to do.

The streets of Bergen were more crowded than Elsa was used to, feeling even more self-conscious as the crystals clinked against her hip with each step. Ancient magic had a sort of echo to it, a dull throbbing presence that tapped incessantly at her subconscious, as if it needed to remind her of its presence. She'd debated about leaving the crystals behind, but something told her they were meant to be carried everywhere. An instinct she couldn't shake. Her knuckles tightened against the strap across her chest as she crossed the street towards the university.

Trees began to box her in as the sidewalk led her through a thick park. Her simple blue sandals crunched through a thin layer of brilliant red leaves speckled with gold, the striped trunks growing thicker with each step. Some of the trunks sported dark eyes that seemed to follow her curiously. The last time she'd been in this greenbelt she'd been in such a rush. Now, the sounds of the city faded to an absent murmur, and Elsa felt the tension bleed free from her shoulders. 

She took a deep, cleansing breath of fresh air, a few leaves kicking up and twisting around her, sticking into her bangs and braid. She'd always felt more at home in the outdoors for some reason. Perhaps it was the years of locking herself away in her room, forced to learn the ins and outs of political pursuits from her grandfather instead of enjoying her time off from school. He always demanded the best from her. She was an Oldenburg, after all.

As one of the richest families in Norway, and the oldest of his only son's progeny; her grandfather had drilled into her that their family would always have a reputation to uphold. 

Magic was never a part of the picture. She knew keenly of his utter hatred of magic, and tried not to think about it too much. It only served to hollow her heart out more.

Elsa's braid suddenly flew across her mouth as a rush of wind appeared out of nowhere, knocking her free from her thoughts. She sputtered around a mouthful of hair, pale strands sticking to her tongue and lips. The wind ruffled her bangs free of their frost, forcing them to fall limply in her face.

"Very funny." She muttered unconsciously, raking her hands through her bangs with magic sparkling stubbornly at her fingertips. 

The wind died down as fast as it had appeared, and Elsa kept walking, thinking nothing of it. She emerged from the park and blinked into the sun, an odd feeling of displacement knocking her a little off-balance. The sounds of the city all rushed back in, the campus buildings and winding sidewalks displayed before her in all their grandeur. 

Elsa tugged on her bag to ground herself, needing a moment to remember where she was headed. The clock tower in the center of campus chimed like its own symphony and Elsa's steps stuttered forward once more. Past the tower, round the bend and up a hill stood a mausoleum of a building. Built with gray smooth stone and thick Roman pillars, the yawning mouth of its face led to a much smaller double door entrance.

Elsa had always loved the university's library. The way it stood at the top of the hill, all monolithic and quiet. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been inside it. Pressure against her palm radiated up her arm in anxious tingles, doors swinging open wide as she stepped inside.

Immediately the smell of decaying paper and leather touched the roof of her mouth. Pencils scratched against paper, someone coughed off to the side, a page turned. The zen atmosphere settled around her like a cozy blanket. Confidence rose within her chest.

She could find answers here.

She made a beeline to the historical texts section, glancing briefly at a girl completely engulfed by the books towering over her body, pen scratching runes into the table. Elsa glossed over the sight, rising up on her toes as she studied the book spines for potential. 

Libraries were a place outside of time entirely. Clocks didn't tick in their halls; each minute tracked only by the sounds of whispering paper and coughing. Elsa spent hours between those bookshelves, fingers grazing over the backs of so many books that she was certain her hands would smell of bound leather for days. She came across two that caught her attention. 

The first historical text wasn't very helpful at all, even though the sketched depiction of her glacier on the cover had promised more. It spoke mostly of the viking explorations along the arctic circle, where they settled and how they colonized the native peoples. It was too blasé about the colonization process for Elsa to consider it further, only scanning about halfway through the book before setting it aside uncomfortably. The next one was a bit more helpful, and Elsa had immediately been drawn to the gold filigree along the dark leather. The author's name had faded with time, but from what she gathered by flipping through the yellow pages, it was a diary of some sort.

Eagerly, she started combing through the pages for anything about the castle in the glacier. Her fingertip roved down the scribbled runes, mouth pulling further into a frown. To her immense disappointment, she found nothing mentioning Arendelle. Only folk tales of a witch in the north. Elsa gave a deep sigh, slowly letting the soft pages slip through her fingers to the beginning.

Something compelled her to read the first passage, her blue eyes half-masted as she murmured, _"I came from a quiet village in the great forest of spirits. My mother was a weaver of fabrics, like her mother before her._ _We were the writers of history for our tribe.." _

Elsa trailed off, glancing up and around to see if anyone had noticed her reading out loud. Someone coughed out of sight, the silence crackling like low white noise in her ears. The air felt heavy in her lungs, but she was drawn back to the book, feeding into her curiosity. She leaned her shoulder against a bookcase and delicately traced a nail down the page, picking up where she left off.

_ "...documenting events of our lives over large swaths of hide, and silk tapestries made from the lunar moth. We wrote of love and reindeer migrations, and battles between us and other tribes for hunting grounds. We spoke of our victories, and defeats, for both were equally important. Our way demands us to learn from failure, and to taper our pride in achievement. That was our purpose -  _ ** _my_ ** _ purpose. I used to take great pride in our tapestries, but I know I will never see one again." _ Elsa frowned, her eyes skipping over the next few runes, the words pulling from her lips almost reluctantly.  _ "I am... of the Forsaken Ones, and I am unworthy to set eyes upon my village again -" _

“I don’t believe it, Elsa is that you?” 

Frost staggered along the spine of her book, shattering in the same second as Elsa snapped it closed and tucked it close to her chest, heart pounding. Blue met brown in a startled moment, Honeymaren’s lips parted in awe and worry. The other girl took two steps forward and Elsa reflexively matched her pace backwards. Her back hit the bookshelf and Honeymaren advanced quickly, placing her hands on Elsa’s shoulders firmly.

_ “Are you okay?”  _ She asked, her warm gaze skipping over her face and clothes as if trying to suss out the damage.

“I-I’m fine,” Elsa squeaked lamely, a flush crawling up the back of her neck with an indescribable jolt of shame in her belly. She tucked the book closer to her chest. “I just slipped and hit my head, I'm fine now.”

Honeymaren raised an eyebrow, frowning. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you. The last time I heard your name it was in the same sentence as ‘search party’ and ‘below zero temperatures.’” 

Guilt squeezed itself in Elsa’s chest as she breathed and took in how haggard Honeymaren seemed. Her hair was falling out of its braid, the beanie she wore normally was crooked, and there were dark circles that matched Elsa’s almost perfectly. It’d only been a day, but she  _ did _ miss her lecture the day before. Her professor must have forgotten to tell the rest of the class of her condition. 

Elsa stood up straighter and held her palm up. Honeymaren took a step back in surprise. “I appreciate your concern, but I promise, I am perfectly alright. I just...” 

She took in a deep breath, glancing both ways down the library corridor for others. Satisfied the coast was clear, she bit her lip and let a few sparks of frost dance across her nails, crafting a small statue of a reindeer to rest in her palm. "The cold doesn't bother me like others. Okay?"

Honeymaren gaped a little. She reached out, her hand a little shaky, and took the ice, sculpture from her.

“Oh…” She breathed, the pad of her thumb glossing over the reindeer’s rounded snout. Honeymaren looked up, eyes wide with wonder. “You’re one of the peacekeepers."

Elsa blinked. "Peacekeepers?"

Honeymaren smiled wide, her freckled cheeks pulling crows feet at the corners of her eyes. "It's an old tale my people tell by the fire… They're great at telling stories, actually. Much better than me." She paused, twisting the reindeer in her fingers as pink tinged her cheeks. "...Have you ever looked into how you got your powers?"

"Of course…" Elsa stopped herself short, her eyebrows furrowing as she really thought about the question.

She remembered reading something when she was younger, of trolls with powers of foresight that could grant wishes - but that was all she'd been able to find in her grandfather's library. Myths and fairytales shelved just to keep her sister busy. They'd always been isolated like that - her grandfather would brush Anna off while forcing Elsa to focus on how to control her magic. She was meant to control it and hide it, not ask questions about it. Where _did_ it come from?

Honeymaren seemed to read the look on her face and she pocketed the reindeer, pulling out a pen instead. She spoke frankly. "You should come to one of our spirit nights. We tell stories from our ancestors by the fire and cook good food all night long."

"O-oh, um, are you sure I'd be allowed? I don't want to impose," Elsa stammered, her cheeks raging pink as Honeymaren took her hand and scribbled a number across her palm. Shocked, Elsa barely managed to reign in a surge of magic straining against her skin.

"I'm positive." Honeymaren smiled warmly, mercifully releasing her hand. "My family may not be partial to outsiders, but magic has always been a part of nature, and we're...y'know, all about nature. It’s kind of our thing." The brown-eyed girl gave a hopeful bite to her lower lip, capping her pen. "Just, think about it? We might be able to give you some answers, and… it'd be nice to get to know you outside of school and books."

Elsa swallowed dryly, her eyes wide as she caught on to Honeymaren's hopeful look. She could only nod numbly, vaguely hearing herself say that she'd think about it. The other girl left almost right after, leaving the scent of mulberries behind in her wake.

Elsa stared after her, her hands growing loose as her mind tried to catch up. The thick leather book slipped from her fingers, bouncing its spine off the floor in a flutter of pages. It snapped her out of her reverie, jolting her into action. She dipped down to pick up the book, pausing and staring at the number on her palm. 

She felt a thrill race up her spine, a strange giddiness and stomach-twisting nervousness taking up space in her abdomen. 

"Oh, Anna's going to flip." She murmured, picking up the book and shelving it thoughtlessly.

She headed back out the library soon after, head still slightly in a daze. Her thumbs tapped tirelessly against her phone as she walked back to her dorm. The wind tugged incessantly at her clothes, but she was too busy texting Anna an update.

_ BanAnna: I mean yes gpa's halls have decent slide-ability but ELSA I swear I flew like forty feet down a single hallway ON ONE SOCK  _

_ BanAnna: Are you still researching those weird diamond things? _

_ BanAnna: Let me know what you find!!! _

_ Freeze-a: Nothing really new, the library is a bit too big to cover in one afternoon. Though… _

_ BanAnna: ????? _

_ Freeze-a: I...did get a girl's number. _

_ BanAnna: !!!!!!!!!  _

_ BanAnna: oMG I'M CALLING _

_ Freeze-a: Anna no  _

A ringtone burst to life in her palm, startling her so much she nearly dropped it into the wet soil beneath her sandals. Shaking her head, Elsa answered the call just as she left the greenbelt.

_ "OHMYSPIRITSWHOISSHEYOUNEEDTOTELLMEEVERYTHING!" _

Elsa jerked the phone away from her ear, rolling her eyes to the heavens.

"Hello to you too Anna. Use your inside voice, please." She replied calmly, though a smile threatened to spread across her face. She glanced at the ink on her palm, the numbers blurred at the edges no matter how hard she blinked. 

_ "Um??? How do you expect me to use an inside voice with this?? You're going on a date for the first time in - in forever?" _ Anna's shrillness had dialed back, replaced with starstruck enthusiasm.

"Whoa now, hold your sled." Elsa's cheeks flushed to the tips of her ears, her shoulders rising to her ears. "No one said anything about dating. I don't know her well enough to agree to that."

_ "But you do know her??" _

"She's in my archaeology class, we met on the bus ride to the glacier."

Elsa had to hold the phone away from her ear as another squeal crackled its way through. She sighed exasperatedly, "Anna!" 

_ "Sorry sorry I know I'm going overboard but just - Elsa you've never been interested in people before! I'm happy for you!" _

She couldn't help but melt at that, her fingers catching in the sleeve at the crook of her arm, phone pressed back to her ear. "I - thank you. It's not that I'm not thrilled about it, I am. I just…don't know what to make of it. She's... she's very nice, especially because I definitely lost her jacket at the glacier park."

_ "Is she pretty?" _

Elsa laughed, digging in her bag as she was suddenly already at the door to her dorm room. "Yes, Anna. She's very pretty."

_ "What's her name?" _

"Honeymaren."

_ "Elsa you're giving me nothing to work with here." _

"Well she was considerably worried when she saw me at the library." Elsa relented, the door closing softly behind her. She approached the remnants of their pillowfort, phone pressed between her shoulder and ear. "Apparently my scatterbrained professor did not inform the rest of the class that I was okay. I had to show her how the cold doesn't bother me, if you know what I mean."

_ "You showed her your magic?? Oh she must be  _ ** _really_ ** _ pretty." _

Elsa flushed scarlet, setting her bag aside. "Anna!"

_ "You're gonna take that tone of voice with me like I'm wrong?" _

"It's - I -" She sputtered indignantly, spine straightening. "I've decided I'm no longer talking to you about this."

_ "Awww but your date!" _

"Good  _ night _ Anna."

_ "Tell me about it at Oaken's! Please!" _

"... Fine." Elsa sat on the edge of her bed, dropping her chin into her palm. "Later, though. I really should write down some notes on where to look next."

_ "Nerd." _

"You're just asking me to expose you. Nerdism is hereditary in some families you know."

_ "The more you try to expose me, the deeper hole you dig yourself my dear sister." _

"Perhaps I just like the cold and dark." She smiled.

Anna's laughter burst from the small speakers, and they chatted a little longer. Elsa forgot to mention the diary she'd found, mentioning the bonfire Honeymaren had invited her to despite her reluctance. She entered the number into the phone before it could fade at Anna's insistence. It grew dark before long, and Elsa realised how much time had passed. She promised to meet at Oaken's for breakfast in a few days, giving her goodbyes.

Bruni woke up from his nap as she set her phone aside, blinking at her sleepily. Elsa smiled, reaching into his enclosure to rub the top of his head with her thumb.

"Things aren't so bad." She murmured, "The world's still turning. Maybe this magic stuff isn't as dire as it seems."

Bruni chirped, then tilted his head to the side. Elsa followed the motion instinctively, and heard a soft sound in the distance. 

A familiar four-note pattern. 

Goosebumps erupted across her arms. After two days of radio silence, the voice felt...hesitant. Almost afraid. Or apologetic.

Elsa looked out the window, frowning at the vast, star speckled canvas.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Elsa murmured, sliding off the bed and drifting to her window. She slowly slid it open and leaned out. "Does it have something to do with those symbols?"

All at once, an aurora erupted across the dark horizon. Flickering colors of cerulean and pale jade, like an immense curtain draped over the stars. Elsa exhaled shakily, gripping under the window sill so hard her nails bent into the wood.

A thrill shot through her like lightning, her eyes glued to the sky. 

"What do you need from me?" Elsa asked desperately, frost racing along the windowsill as she stomped down the urge to reach out to the lights like a lunatic.

The song echoed out to her again, still wordless. Still melancholy and haunting as the day she first heard it. The aurora waved slow and silent, somber as a flag spotted off shore.

Then she blinked, and the lights vanished without warning, leaving her answerless once more.

Frustration welled inside her like a tidal wave and broke free of her lips in a growl. Directed to the sky, she cried out, "Why won't you just tell me??"

The following beat of silence had Elsa ripping her hands away from the window, leaving a clumped pair of frosted spikes to cling to the frame. She ran her hands through her bangs, nearly kicking her bag as she paced past it.

"Every time I'm more confused than the last, I need  _ answers _ , not more songs!" Elsa scowled at the window. 

She crawled into bed, grabbing her phone from the night stand and settling in under the covers. She texted Anna a bit to calm herself down, trying not to pout like a child. 

_ Freeze-a: I heard the voice again. _

_ BanAnna: OMG!! What'd it say?? _

_ Freeze-a: Nothing. Same song, same wordless lights in the sky.  _

_ Freeze-a: I mean if it controls the auroras, why can't it spell out what it needs to say to me?  _

_ Freeze-a: This wordless vocalizing is so unbelievably frustrating. _

_ BanAnna: Hey hey, it's gonna be ok! Maybe the sooner we figure out these quest items or whatever, the sooner the voice will start making sense? _

Elsa let her head fall back onto her pillow, sighing at her ceiling. She thought of Anna's words, allowing her anger to cool before picking up her phone again.

_ Freeze-a: ...You're right. Thank you, I feel a bit better. _

_ BanAnna: Yes!!! See, it's not so bad! One step at a time! _

_ Freeze-a: Open heart, open mind. _

_ BanAnna:  _ ❤❤❤

_ Freeze-a: I've had enough for today. _

_ BanAnna: Did you find anything out at the library? _

_ Freeze-a: Not really. Just some diaries and colonizer stories. I'll keep looking though, do you want to accompany me tomorrow? _

_ BanAnna: Ugh I totally would if I didn't have to babysit Olaf again. His parents are gone so much I'm afraid he's gonna call me mom one of these days _

_ Freeze-a: That's an idea. Do you think the mansion comes with the child? A package deal? _

_ BanAnna: I can't tell if that would be kidnapping or stealing _

_ Freeze-a: Only if you get caught. _

_ BanAnna: Suddenly I'm dyslexic oh no - I'm sorry officer I don't know what plausible deniability is, my sister is an angel _

_ Freeze-a: Suddenly there is a snow angel where I was, how strange. _

_ BanAnna: Elsa your jokes are barely making sense, go to sleep lol _

_ Freeze-a: I can be your angle, or your dejon. _

_ BanAnna: Its DEVIL Elsa, dejon is a mUSTARD - _

_ BanAnna: I'm banishing you to the shadowrealm. Begone. _

_ BanAnna: Let me know how the library goes!! _

_ BanAnna: Sleep well sis  _ ❤

_ Freeze-a: Good night <3 _

Elsa set her phone aside to charge, sinking down into her pillows and blankets with a heavy sigh. T aking slow, deep breaths, Elsa fell off to sleep as if guided by a quiet hand, still in her day clothes but too comfortable to move. She felt Bruni curl up on her chest, his heat seeping into her bones. 

The next day would be better, she told herself. She'd find something. She was sure of it.

She awoke at the edge of a lake. 


End file.
